Meisters
by Oblivion-Time
Summary: Online gaming AU: The graphic. The sounds. Even the smell inside of the game MEISTERS is amazing. Never in her entire life would Maka think she would ever get so involved in something, well, except for her studies. When a man all dressed in black defends her from beasts, she couldn't get him out of her head.
1. Chapter 1

**Meisters**

**Chapter 1: Colorless**

**[OFFLINE]**

"Have you tried the new game?" My best friend Tsubaki asks. "I have heard it's a huge phenomenon in the gaming industry. People have been hungering for this game for years and when it was released; people camped outside of their game store in order to get it." She says while we walk down the road away from our high school. "The game actually allows you to _enter_ the game with a certain helmet. I think they called it Rift Head Gear."

I snort a little while clutching my textbooks to my chest. "It sounds stupid if you ask me. How in the world have they managed to create a game where you are able to enter a game? It is scientifically impossible."

All throughout my first week of my senior year, I have heard everybody talking about the game. How great the graphic is and how real everything is. It is told that you can actually smell things inside of the game. People have said how amazing it is, that you can feel the trees and when monsters hurt you, it only stings a little before your HP is reduced. One kid in particular, he said when you die in the game you are paralyzed for one minute before you are returned to the nearest town with full health. The bad thing is you lose some of your experience.

"I don't know." Tsubaki says and smiles wide. "That's why the game is called a phenomenal. It is a mystery how they managed to hook the helmet up to the computer and allowed you to enter the game. They say they have been developing this for years. They first made goggles which allowed you to freely look around the world by turning your head, and then they created some sort of gloves that allowed you to feel the virtual world and grab whatever you wanted. Then they managed to make the Rift Head Gear. It is amazing how they managed to hook it up to the brain. Don't you think?" Tsubaki says excitedly while she turns around on her toes and starts walking backwards in front of me. "I think I'm going to buy it as soon as I get the money. I would like to try this game out. It sounds amazing."

I sigh loudly as we start to reach the apartment I'm living in. "Tsubaki, don't do it. You will only be wasting your money. It's our senior year and we can't spend it on playing videogames. We have to study hard to make sure we get into college."

"I know, but you will definitely get into college. I bet you would be able to get into college now with the grades you have. You need to loosen up. It would be fun. Think of all the fun things we could do inside of Meisters." Tsubaki smiles wide while she tilts her head. "It would be an adventure."

"If you want to spend your money on it, then it's fine, but I can't afford spending my money on videogames." I sigh loudly. "Don't forget our study session tomorrow." I walk inside of my apartment complex.

Tsubaki is a very nice girl. She is smart but she can get easily distracted by a lot of things, for an example, she gets easily distracted by a certain guy with blue hair shaped into a star. I bet it was he who told her all about the game and now she is determined to get it just so they can play together. The guy's name is Black*Star and I know he plays the game, he always brags about how great of an assassin he is in the game. In fact, he tells everybody everything he does in the game. I have seen him and a lot of others going around carrying their Rift Head Gears in school and at the beginning of the year, people also played the game on the break but since they were completely shut off from the real world, people pulled pranks on them. Now no one dares to play the game in a public place, which I understand. Some of the pranks were very cruel. People drew on each other's faces with permanent markers and some went even as far as shaving off their eyebrows.

I fish up my key from my pocket and insert it in the door. The door opens with a click and I remove the key from within the lock. As soon as I close the door behind me my cat Blair runs up to me and pushes her tiny body against my leg while she purrs loudly. I put away my textbooks along with my notebooks on a small table in my hall.

"Hey little kitty cat." I joke and kneel down next to my cat and pat her head. "Did you miss me?" Blair purrs loudly while she makes herself as tall as she can to push her head more into my hand. Some blue and purple hair strands get stuck in my hand and I giggle a little. Blair is too cute for her own good.

I stop patting Blair and put my palms together and slowly move them in a circle movement. The hair soon starts to get entangled with each other and soon there is a tiny ball of hair in my hand. I throw it away before I stand up and walk inside of my kitchen to make some dinner for myself.

I live alone in my apartment. Since my parents are very successful business people they make a lot of money and when I told them I wanted to enter a high school in a different city, they supported me all the way. They got me an apartment and bought a cat so I wouldn't be as lonely. I'm very much happy they did it since it can easily get lonely and then Blair is always there to cheer me up and keep me company on lonely Saturdays. Tsubaki could come over from time to time but most of the time I'm all alone.

It is pretty boring when it is quiet. It is good for my studies since no one is here to disturb me when I'm studying, so that's what I mostly do. I study. Studying makes the time go around and it gives me good grades. I know my parents wouldn't be happy if I came all the way to this city just to fail my courses. One day, I want to be just as successful as they are.

While I stir my wooden spoon in the pot with noodles, I hum along to the radio. It is always nice to add some sounds to reduce my loneliness. The radio along with the TV had been great tools to just add some noises in my apartment to make it less abandoned.

Ring, ring. Ring, ring. My phone buzzes on the counter. I turn down the heat on the stove and answer the call.

"Hello―"

"I got it!" Tsubaki screams into the phone before I even get a chance to speak. "My parents bought it! They bought Meisters! They bought the Rift Head Gear too!" Tsubaki squeals loudly. "They said it is an early Christmas gift! Oh my god it is so cool!"

Oh dear. This won't end well. "That's great." I say while I keep stirring the spoon around the noodles.

"I know! I called Black*Star before you and he is going to teach me how to play TONIGHT!" Tsubaki screams into the phone and I have to pull the phone away from my ear.

"Look, Tsubaki." I look sadly down into my pot of noodles. They swim around pitifully in the water, without a purpose in life except of being someone's dinner. "I'm busy at the moment. Can we talk in school instead?"

Tsubaki groans loudly. "You are no fun! Why aren't you happy for me?! I mean, I can get closer to Black*Star! We can become really good friends and he might even ask me out on a date! You know I want to date him and you know what this means to me!"

Great. Now I feel guilty as well. "I am happy. I'm just in the middle of dinner."

"Maka, it isn't like you are with someone. You won't be rude to anyone if you don't have anyone in your apartment."

That hurts. Tsubaki knows about my loneliness. She knows how being alone affects me. It isn't like I have a family to come home to and talk to. Even when I lived with my parents I was always alone. They worked long shifts and were never there. I had to learn how to cook on my own and my parents were never there to cheer me on. They were never there when I graduated from junior high and they never came to watch me compete in track. No one was there for me. Not a single one was there to cheer me on.

"I'm sorry." Tsubaki says quickly. "I didn't mean to say that."

"It's fine." I sigh. "You are right. I'm not being rude toward anyone so why won't I be able to talk to you."

"If you want to hang up then it's fine by me. I'm sorry I said that. It slipped out. We can talk tomorrow." Tsubaki hung up.

I'm alone again. And this time it is worse. I feel guilty and hurt. Tsubaki is my only friend and I hurt her. And she hurt me in return. This is so complicated. Why must friendship be so damn complex?

My noodles were overcooked. I was stuck in my own thoughts while my hand silently stirred around in the pot on autopilot. To the noodles I ate some corn and an apple. It isn't the best food I could cook but it is food. My parents wire me money enough for rent, good food, clothes and pocket money. It is way enough money but I have a tendency of never using that much money. I know I have the money to go and eat dinner at a restaurant every day but I would rather be stuck in secluded apartment. With no one to share my day to. With no one to laugh with. Without any human company.

Since my parents are so busy with work they never get the chance to call me. I'm lucky if I get a call once a week.

With a heavy heart, I walk over to my laptop and start it. It is time for me to study. No one is here to distract me so I might as well do something good and study. I grab my textbooks and skip to the page and start to read it. I read page after page before I slowly start writing on my paper. Every once in a while I reread my text to find any grammar or spelling errors.

Yup. This is just a normal Wednesday. Nowhere to be at. No person to be with. No person to talk to. Just studying. What a boring life, very colorless with no fun events to color my everyday lifestyle. That is the lifestyle of Maka Albarn, senior year and honor student. I don't expect to have a normal high school experience. No romance. No parties or doing something stupid. No, those things to not fit into my life. They do fit into Tsubaki's life and I do wonder how we can be friends. She is a highly social person while I'm a bookworm. I read every novel I get my hands on and studying while Tsubaki do things see people and always do homework at school before she goes home.

Yup, my life is boring and transparent.


	2. Chapter 2

**Meisters**

**Chapter 2: The gift **

[OFFLINE]

I walk through the hallways toward my locker. The final bell rung and the day is over. At the end of the hallway stands my locker tall like always. With quick screws of my wrist, the door clicks open and reveals my books neatly stashed on top of each other.

The whole morning Tsubaki had been apologizing for what she said over the phone. As soon as she got it that I was fine with it, she started to talk about Black*Star. She told me everything that happened inside of Meisters. They had met inside of the beginner city and Tsubaki told me how awesome the game was. How she felt the heat from the laughing sun and smelled newly baked bread along with exotic spices.

I didn't really get it what she meant with a "laughing sun"? Can suns laugh? That's highly laughable.

Then she talked about how Black*Star taught her all of the basics, how to slay monsters what they called "Kishins" in the game, how to equip weapons along with build a good skill tree.

I didn't understand a word of what she was saying and I ended up only sitting and nodding, pretending to listen to her while I studied and listened to the teacher's lectures. The game is ridiculous.

"Maka!" Tsubaki yells from the end of the hallway while she runs up to me. "You took off fast. I didn't even have the time to take all of my stuff."

Yeah. "Stuff."

"I saw you talking to Black*Star and I didn't feel like eavesdropping on your conversation. I would look stupid standing next to you without saying anything." I say while I put my books into my locker and takes out a few others to take with me to Tsubaki and mine study session.

"You wouldn't. You know you could have talked to us. You don't have to stand around and look like a zombie." Tsubaki says while she opens up her locker right beside mine. "I mean, you are my friend and I want you to meet more people. It is tragic how few friends you have. You do need more people in your life."

"I'm fine the way everything is." I'm telling her the truth. I have lived this kind of life so long I'm used to it. I don't feel the need to have people in my life.

"Come on, you can't deny the fact you live in an apartment by yourself and I'm the only friend you have."

"That's not true. I have Blair." I say while I close my locker.

"Yeah, because a cat is so much of a company." Tsubaki says and takes her bag out of her locker before she closes it. "Seriously, this Saturday you are going to Kim's party with me. It is ridiculous how seldom you are out. You and I are going to have a blast and you are going to make more friends. I'm going to introduce you to a ton of people and maybe, you will find a guy." Tsubaki winks at me. "You could use some manly company."

A guy. It isn't like the thought haven't crossed my mind; actually, I have thought it from time to time when I had finished a romance novel. Thought about having a boyfriend was very nice. Having someone to share everything with and cuddle up on the couch to watch TV. It is a very nice thought, but mixing the thought with Tsubaki's intention on _really_ hooking me up with a guy, it feels weird. Very weird.

"I'm not interested in that kind of connection." I say while I turn around on my heel and heads toward the library where we always have our study session. "Let's drop it and start studying."

"Actually." Tsubaki smiles and I stop and turn toward her. "Black*Star wants us to play Meisters after school and I said yes. I'm so sorry, I forgot about our study session." A lie. One after another. I reminded her yesterday about the study session so she couldn't have forgotten it. She ditched me in order for her to spend time with Black*Star.

"Whatever. Have fun." I say and keep walking toward the library.

"I'm sorry!" Tsubaki yells after me but I only wave my hand while I keep walking toward the library.

Slowly I walk alone toward the library. As expected, the library is empty as usual and I take a seat by one of the tables. I open my textbooks and start reading. The librarians roll their carts and puts books in the shelves. The wheels of the cart shrieks loudly. Slowly my fists clenches and everything I hear is the screech of the wheel. This is a library; couldn't they invest on a new cart? The one they have now disturbs the readers, or, just me. No one ever spends their time in the library so there isn't really the need to get a new one since it only disturbs one person.

Sighing loudly, I pack my things back into my bag and heads out of the library. It is no use trying to study in this environment. I have a quiet apartment where I won't be disturbed. I can study there instead.

I walk out of the school. The only thing I hear is the sound of the motor from the cars and the laughter of teenagers having fun. The sun shines bright and it is the perfect day to be out and doing something fun, however, I don't feel the need to have fun. I mean, could it really be that fun just walking around and talking to someone? I would rather study and get A's on my reports. High school is just a small portion of my life, I won't die if I'm not having fun right now. I could start having fun when I have a great job, great salary and a great apartment.

I walk up the stairs of the colorful stairway, and surprisingly there is a package in front of my front door. A very large one with a letter attached to it. Kneeling down in front of the package, I see plenty of red stickers with the word "fragile" on. Carefully I pick it up and unlock my apartment. Immediately Blair meets me in the hallway while I clumsily close my front door.

"Not now." I grunt loudly. The package is so large and heavy! What can it be? "We have gotten mail Blair." I say while I take off my shoes with the help of my toes. I sigh with relief when I put down the package on the kitchen table and take the letter off of the package. The envelope quickly breaks open by my index finger and I take out the piece of paper and starts reading it.

_"Dear Maka._

_ I'm sorry we haven't been able to call you lately. Work has been very hectic. We recently got the result of your latest test. We are so proud of you! You have been working so hard me and your father thought you deserved something extra. You are still a teenager and need your fun. I hope this can help you relax and take your mind off of school."_

I raise my eyebrow. Help me relax? Well this is very generous of them. They haven't sent me something in ages. Since when was the last time my mother said she was proud over me? I don't even remember it. I guess it must be because this is a letter and not a phone call. Maybe she took her time making this package.

_"A friend of mine told me about this and I thought you might like it. Her daughter enjoys it very much. You are both teenagers so I bet you will like it as well. _

_ Love, Your mother."_

I lay the note down beside the package. Quickly I walk inside of my kitchen and find a pair of scissors to open the package with. Carefully I break the tape and then open the box. I raise my eyebrow when I find a black box marked with green "Rift Head Gear" and beside it is the game Meisters.

I groan loudly while I out the things out of the box. My mom knows I don't like videogames. She knows I would enjoy a novel more than a damned game. She knows I'm very much _not_ like every other teenager. I'm anti-social and I'm okay with it.

Cursing loudly I abandon the box and the game beside the opened box. I will clean it away later and ask my mother for the recite and I will send it back to her. I won't have any use of having that.

I walk over to the living room and starts setting up my textbooks and getting my laptop ready. I have a presentation to start making and I have to make sure it will be the best one I have ever made. I need to have high grades. If I want to get into a good college then I will need to have only A's and make myself as attractive as possible toward the collages.

_"That's why the game is called a phenomenal."_ Tsubaki's voice echoes in my mind. _"It sounds amazing."_

I try to focus on my schoolwork but Tsubaki's voice keeps echoing inside of my head. Tsubaki talked about a laughing sun. How can a sun laugh exactly? Is it true you really can smell inside of the virtual game? Is it true that you can actually feel inside of Meisters?

My hand clenches the page I was about to turn.

Damn it. I know I am a scientifically student. If I don't know the answers, then I do whatever I can to find the answers, and in this case, to find out if what Tsubaki told me is true, then I have to enter the game.

"Stupid Tsubaki." I mutter lowly while I walk back to the package and grab the Rift Head Gear along with the game. The first thing I do is installing the game and read the manual on how to use the Rift Head Gear. It seems like all I have to do is plug it into the computer, lie down or sit somewhere comfortable and put on the head gear and when I want to stop playing, all I need to do is take the head gear off.

The game finishes installing and I plug the Rift Head Gear into the computer. I lie down on my couch and quite frankly, I'm a little bit nervous. What if the head gear fries my brain? But it hasn't happened to anyone else so why should it happen to me? If there were a slight possibility for that to happen, then the company would never have released the head gear.

Taking a deep breath, I put on the head gear and I'm thrown into the virtual world of gaming.

[ONLINE]

"Welcome to Meisters." A voice says from nowhere. "Choose your character." The voice says and I find myself standing in front of a mirror, the only thing is, I do _not_ look like myself. I shriek in shock and quickly make my orange hair into my familiar blond and my brown eyes into my green ones. If I'm going to be in this game then I want to be able to recognize myself. I finish making my character and the voice comes back. "The world of Meisters is played classless. You choose what you want to be by putting your skill points in the abilities you wish to acquire. Remember, you cannot reset your skills once they are set. If you mess up your skill points, then your character is lost." The voice stops and the mirror in front of me decay into a glowing pile of sand on the ground.

They are right, these graphics are amazing.

"Enter your name in order to enter the world of Meisters." The voice says and in front of me pops an orange bar up along with a keyboard underneath it. Quickly I type my name and the bar decay as well as the mirror did. "You are now entering the world of Meisters." The dark voice says.

Suddenly, the floor underneath my feet breaks and I find myself falling freely. I let out a high pitch scream as I fall through a tube. The wind whips my face and the tube's walls turns into the blue glowing sand I saw the mirror become. My feet suddenly hit the ground and I can't manage to keep my balance. I fall down on my butt and rub my lower back. I just fell from a very high level, if this was reality I would have been a puddle of blood and flesh. Of course, this is not reality.

Slowly I get up on my feet and surprisingly, nothing hurts at all. All around me I hear laughter and the sound of a very soothing music. Sellers scream out their items while holding up some of their goods. I can smell salmon in the air from one of the seller's shops and herbs from another shop. Some people sit on a blanket on the ground and have stuff in front of them. They must be private sellers or other gamers trying to sell their things, right?

I see other players dressed in different kinds of clothing. I see males wearing shiny heavy armors with large claymores, I think, while some are wearing robes and witch hats. I see females wearing very exposed clothing. Some wears the same as men, large armors although theirs are more revealing. They are showing off cleavage and their belly along with some legs. If this is a fighting game, then how come they are showing off their skin? Isn't it safer to cover them up?

A thought strikes me and I look down at my own clothes. I'm wearing a cute green skirt with a white blouse with strings. Over it I'm wearing a green vest and brown boots. The whole look is very old-fashioned and it reminds me of the age of princesses and knights. The other players have swords or magic staffs on their back but when I reach to feel my back for any weapon, there is none. Am I supposed to get a weapon somewhere or what?

Silently I start to wander through the crowded city in search for… well, _something_. I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I'm smart. I should be able to figure it out.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." A heavy laughter sounds from above me. Slowly I lift the eyes and they are about to pop out. I fall down on my butt again while I stare up into the sky. There is the sun, the _laughing_ sun. The sun has two large gory eyes with a large mouth. Instead of rays it has spikes sprouting out of it with fire dancing all around it.

"What the heck is this for kind of game?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Meisters**

**Chapter 3: Monsters**

[ONLINE]

Okay. Calm down. It is just a game. It isn't realistic at all. It has a _laughing sun _in the sky. It is normal for games, right? Oh man, I have no clue what I'm doing!

Quickly I get up on my feet again and I find people staring at me. A blush spreads on my cheeks and quickly I walk away while I look at the ground. I need to get away from here. I can figure something out while I check this city out.

This is an amazing game. It feels like I am truly here in real life. The graphics are amazing, I can feel the warmth from the laughing sun and I can feel a gust caress my legs. If I couldn't distantly feel my body lying on the couch, then I would really think this was all reality instead of a videogame. It is amazing how they managed to create this.

The crowd seems to reduce as I keep walking. The streets grow emptier and the brick houses seem to turn darker and sinister. The cheery trees that were in full bloom are now naked and dead. Where exactly did I go? I can't hear the sounds of people anymore. All I'm hearing is the sound of my own boots hitting the curbs.

Even the sun is gone. It's covered with clouds and I'm getting the chills of this place. "H-Hello?" I say shakily. "Is anyone there?" I really want to get away from this place. Maybe I should turn around and try to find my way back? Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

As soon as I turn around I hear a gurgling sound mixed with a hiss behind me. Quickly I wipe around and I see the most hideous creature I have ever seen. The creature has long fangs which drips blood from its mouth. It has long red and black ragged fur which misses some at its back and hind legs. The monster's icy white eyes stare at me while it scratches the ground. It's getting ready to attack me.

Without even thinking, I turn around and start running away. I take track on regular basis! I'm used to running away from competition but this is utterly crazy! I'm being hunted by a freaking wolf!

I scream loudly while I hear the wolf running closely behind me. Who am I kidding! This was a bad idea! I shouldn't have started playing this game!

"Get away! Get away! Get away from me!" I yell while I quickly turn a corner and runs into an alley. How am I supposed to fight the beast when this game doesn't even give me any stupid weapons!

I breathe heavily and loudly while I make a quick turn again and I hear the beast run into the wall before it growls loudly and barks. It is after me again. I can almost feel its horrible breath on my neck. That is how close he is.

"No!" I yell and run into a new ally and my luck has _definitely_ run out by now because _another _beast comes running toward me. I give out a quick scream and I run out of the ally before the beasts get a chance to touch me. I'm growing very tired and I feel the need to stop, but if I do, then I will die. I don't want to die even if this is just a game!

One of the beasts swings its large and bloody palm at me and I'm forced to throw myself to the side. The monster's palm misses me but I come crashing down on the ground. I'm staring into the beasts' eyes and they growl loudly, baring their teeth at me. I breathe heavily and try to backwards crawl my way away from them but soon my back hits a wall. The two beasts are in front of me and they are ready to kill me.

I scream out loudly while I cover my face with my arms. I close my eyes tightly. The beast's claws digs into my skin to then enter my body to then exit. It stings a little and I find my HP bar reduces to zero. My arms fall down and my whole body grows limp. I try to move my arms but I'm unable to. In front of me I see a countdown from one minute. So this is how it is like being dead. I remember some people talked about this.

The beasts bare their teeth at me and surprisingly, they aren't interested in leaving me alone even now when I'm dead. Is this really how it is supposed to be?

The beast which attacked me leaps toward me and if I could, I would be screaming at the top of my lungs but instead I'm staring at the beast with wide eyes.

The monster yelps loudly when a mysterious man kicks the monster away from me in midair. In front of me stands a man with a very long black coat and I can see white messy hair and on his back is a large grey scythe. I didn't know old men played Meisters. From the sounds of those who are in my school, only young people play this game.

Immediately he grabs the scythe from his back and holds it in his half gloved hand. The other beast growls loudly before it get ready to attack the man. I gasp mentally and I want to warn him. The beast barks and leap toward him but the man is ready. He swings his scythe at the beast and it goes through it but leaves a red glow where his scythe went through the beast. The monster whimpers and the man swing again before he quickly turns around and slashes his scythe at the other monster. I didn't even notice the other monster was about to attack him.

The man let out a warrior cry before he swings the large scythe at the two beast and before I know it, they whimper loudly and they turn into the blue blowing sand I saw before. The man turns around toward me while he puts his scythe away.

"You idiot." He says. "This isn't a place for a rookie to be at." He has red eyes and his skin is tanned. He doesn't have any wrinkles or any aging signs at all. So this wasn't an old man, this is an albino? In front of the man some kind of hologram appears and he starts scrolling through it with his index finger. He clicks on a button and the screen disappears and a green crystal appears in his hand. He crushes it in his hand and surprisingly, I find myself able to move even though the countdown hasn't yet reached zero.

"W-what happened?" I ask, still have not shaken off the event with the monsters. "What were they? I was just in town when I accidentally came here and then they came and were chasing me!"

"You were lucky I heard you. Those were Kishins. The area you went inside is an event area. Those kinds of beasts are very special. The higher level you are, the rarer they are while lower level you are, the possibility of running into one is very high." The man explains and offers me his hand. "And by the way, I think you owe me a thank you for reviving you. Those kinds of gems cost a lot."

I grab his hand and he helps me up on my feet. "T-thank you." I say blushing.

The man raises his eyebrow. "How come you haven't equipped your weapon?"

I raise me eyebrow. "What do you mean equip? Do I even have one?"

The man nods. "Yeah, all newbies have one. Didn't you read the guide?"

"What guide?"

He chuckles and he exposes razor sharp teeth. I wonder how he got those. "You haven't read the guide. Man you are bad at this." He lifts his index finger and points toward right a little in front of him. "Look at your right bottom corner, do you see something blinking?"

My eyes wanders to the edge of the corner and there it is, a blinking little square. "Yeah." I press it an immediately a screen comes up before me.

"You should read it carefully. With the bad luck you have you should actually memorize each and every word of it." The man says and I can vaguely see him through the screen. "And while you are at it, leave this area immediately. You don't want to run into those kinds of Kishins again. If you are killed by them and then eaten by them, your character will be deleted."

My eyes widen. "Huh?! But I just made mine! How do I get out of here?" I say and push the exit button on the guide. "You have to help me out of here. I'm completely lost."

The man sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. His eyebrows narrows and he seems to be thinking over his options. "Fine." He says and uncrosses his arms. "I will lead the way. You _did_ help me getting what I wanted by distracting the Kishins."

Kishins. The beasts. "Thank you!" The man puts his hands down in his pockets and starts to walk away. "Come on. With me being around the possibility of running into more Kishins are very low."

"O-okay." I say while I run up to him. I really need to stop stuttering. Be confident for once. "Hey, can you tell me a little bit about the game? I'm totally lost when it comes to it."

"Sure. Why not." He raises his hand from his pocket and points up toward the right corner. "In the top right corner you can see your map and you can click on it to get a bigger and more detailed one. This map is for free but when you have to go to different places you have to buy a map or map one yourself." He lowers his hand and puts it back in his pocket. "This isn't any normal leveling game. For every level you reach, you get two skill points you can put on different abilities. You have to be very careful on where you put them or else you can ruin your character. Even if you have many skill points, you can make your character weaker by putting the skills unwisely."

I nod eagerly. I love learning and I'm making metal notes on every little word he is saying. "How many characters do you have?"

"This is my sixth character. It takes a few to get the hang off how to build your skills for every kind of meister you want to make."

I raise my eyebrow questioningly. "Meister?"

"Yes. Meister. Every player here is a meister. That is essentially what we are." The dark and unhappy part of the city starts to disappear and I start to hear people talking. "I recommend you going warrior. That way you only have to focus on Strength and Defense as your abilities. Mage will be too hard for you."

I pout and we reach the crowded city again even though we aren't at the most crowded part yet. "What if I want to become one?"

"Then you will have to dump this character really soon because you will mess Maka up."

"Huh?!" I say shocked. "How did you know my name?"

He chuckles. "I can see your name above your head." The man stops and turns around toward me. "One more advice, find some people to team up with. You won't be able to survive here all alone." The man takes out a crystal from his inventory and crushes it. An orange light comes around him. "Good luck rookie." The orange disappears and so does he.

"Wait!" I scream and reach my arm toward him but he was already long gone. I didn't even learn his name.


	4. Chapter 4

**Meisters **

**Chapter 4: Team**

[OFFLINE]

After the man left, I copied the whole guide and printed it out. The rest of the night I was studying the guide, hungrily reading it over and over again so I could remember every little detail. I have to be prepared to go inside of the game tomorrow. I want to learn his name. Who was he? He certainly was one of those who camped outside of the store to get this game since he is very high levelled by the look of his gear, the more art craft on the armor, the higher level on the meister. His were all in black, a very skillfully sown long leather jacket with belts hugging his hips. A black shirt with grey chains wrapped around his chest and black pants. He had black army boots has a grey metal piece covering the toes. By the judge of the guide, he was very much very skilled player and had been playing this game for a very long time.

There is no doubt that I will see him again. He obviously has to play a lot and I'm determined to find him and thank him properly for saving me. If he didn't show up, then my character would have been deleted.

Friday came and I walk through the corridors still reading the guide. Today I'm going to find some Kishins and I'm going to start build up my skill tree. I have the right settings I want for my character. The first thing I will do is head over to the newbie area where the weak Kishins are.

"Maka!" Instead of turning around and waiting for Tsubaki, I slow down my pace and keep walking with my eyes glued to the guide. "Wait up!" She yells again and runs up to me. "Why didn't you wait for me?" Tsubaki's eyes wander to the bunt of paper I'm reading. "What is that?" She leans over my shoulder and reads it. "Wait! This is the guide to Meisters! Why do you have it?" Tsubaki gasps loudly. "Have you bought the game?!"

I shake my head and put the guide into my backpack. "No. My parents thought I needed something to lighten up with and mama sent it to me. So I tried it out and quite frankly I liked it." Even though I didn't do much inside of the game. All I really did was get lost in it and got saved by that man in black. I wonder who he really is. His eyes were so red and his hair so white. How did he even get those teeth? I don't think I saw any teeth like that in the character selection menu.

"Yes!" Tsubaki jump up into the air with joy. "Then we can all play together! As soon as you have done track you are going straight home and we are going to play! Black*Star and I can help you with the basics and we can become a dream team!"

The man in black had recommended me to find a team to play with. I wonder why. The guide had also recommended me to find a team to play with but it never gave me a reason. All it said was _"you won't be safe as an alone meister."_ What will I be in danger off? More Kishins like the ones I met yesterday?

I nod and give Tsubaki a large smile. "Yeah. I would love to." I clutch my bag close to me. "I will text you when I get home." I wave toward Tsubaki and walks inside of the changing room.

Surprisingly, track took so much longer than it usually did. Usually I'm focused and the time just flew away, but now, my mind wanders. All I can think of is Meisters and the mysterious savior of mine. He had a scary appearance, but he was very nice toward me. He saved me and even used a revival crystal on me and by the judge of the guide, those are _expensive._ I wonder why he used one on me. With just a few more seconds and I would have been teleported back to the town, but instead he spent one on me and helped me get back to town. He did awfully lot for me just so I could get back to town. He said I helped him get what he wanted. Was he talking about the Kishins, the one that could delete a character if they ate you? Why would he want something from them? He said it was an event but what could the possibly have dropped?

I couldn't stop thinking about him. He mysteriously came to my rescue and quickly disappeared with a teleport crystal. He moved so mysteriously and even his face and personality is mysterious. I like it. If I don't find an answer immediately, I'm going to search for one. I never give up on a challenge and the man in black is definitely a good challenge.

Track ended and without even changing into my ordinary clothes, I grab my bag and run home toward my apartment. As I run I send a text to Tsubaki that I'm on my way home and asking her where I'm supposed to meet her and Black*Star.

As I slam the front door shut and locks it behind me, my phone buzzes and it is Tsubaki. "Great! Log in. Me and Black*Star will find you inside of the Death City. I bet you haven't travelled into a different one."

Immediately I reply. "Yes. I'm in Death City. My name is Maka inside of the game." I put my phone away and start my laptop. While my laptop starts I change into my pajama and lays down on the bed. I put my Rift Head Gear and start the game.

[ONLINE]

I let out a loud scream as I found myself falling through the familiar pipe. The pipe decays into glowing blue sand and I hit the ground again, this time, I didn't hit my butt. I manage to still stand on my two feet even if it was hard to regain my balance from the fall.

I look up in the sky and I see other players fall from the sky, the difference is they made a front flip before they skillfully lands on their feet. That's very cool.

"Maka!" I hear my name being called and I turn around to find a woman with long raven hair running up to me. She throws her arms around me and hugs me tightly. "Oh you look so cute in your outfit!" She pulls away from me and looks me up and down. Surprisingly, Tsubaki doesn't look like me. She isn't wearing a green skirt or a vest. She is wearing something else entirely. Her beautiful raven hair is let down from her usual ponytail and on her head she wears a silver band with a jewel on her forehead. She wears a long blue― almost grey looking dress with strings which show off her even bigger chest! Her dress stops at her feet and on her back I see a magic staff. So she is building herself to be a wizard.

"I thought you got the game yesterday." I state.

Tsubaki nods. "I did." She moves aside and there stands Black*Star. I think. "Black*Star helped me level so I could start building my character into a support character."

Black*Star looks different somehow. His hair is still blue but not in the usual spikes of him. His hair is quite long and goes down to his jaw. It is combed backwards and he is wearing a white tank top along with blue pants. Around his neck is a white scarf and in a holster on his hip is a katana.

"Hey!" Black*Star says and raises his hand. "I thought you would use a different name. This is an online game after all."

I raise my eyebrow. "Huh? Change my name? The game asked my name and I gave my name."

Tsubaki giggles while she covers her mouth. "Maka, you are supposed to protect your identity. In videogames you are someone else entirely. You aren't supposed to talk about real life. That is an unspoken rule in the world of gaming."

Now when she says it, I see above Tsubaki's head it says "Camellia" and above Black*Star's head it says… "Black*Star."

"Then how come Black*Star has his real name?"

Black*Star snorts. "Because I'm a god! Everybody has to know my name! I'm this game's god after all!" He laughs loudly.

Oh boy. What did I get myself into? Am I really supposed to play alongside Black*Star? He is just so… so… Obnoxious! His god attitude and his… damn loud mouth! How am I supposed to learn how to play with _him_ with me? He will be so self-absorbed it is ridiculous.

"Oh!" Tsubaki says and quickly get her menu up. A screen appears in front of her and a few clicks later, two screens appear in front of me.

_"Friend request by Camellia"_ and _"Party invite from Camellia."_

I raise my eyebrow and Tsubaki smiles wide. "Go ahead and accept them."

Slowly I nod and accept both of them before I get another friend request from Black*Star. Hesitantly I accepted his friend request. In the top left corner I could see my HP bar along with my MP bar. Underneath mine is Tsubaki's― I mean Camellia's and Black*Star's.

"Let's go and hunt. We will help you get started on your skill tree. We need to boost you up before we can move on to harder Kishins." Camellia says and grabs my hand. "There is a great newbie place just outside of the city. Come one!" Camellia drags me out of Death City while Black*Star walks proudly beside us. I have a feeling this is going to be a long day of gaming.

I was right.

"Maka! You can't run away from the Kishin!" Camellia yells at me while I run with a Kishin chasing me. It's very cute but with its pointy teeth and hideous eyes, it is _not_ cute anymore. "Turn around and hit it with your sword! You don't have to worry! I can heal you!"

I don't follow Camellia's advice. I breathe heavily and fast while I keep running. "How am I supposed to fight it?!" I had read the guide on how to fight monsters, but now when I'm about to put my skills to the test, I'm failing for the first time. "It isn't easy attacking something that is attacking me!" I yell frighten while I hear the small stubs claw-like branches scratches the ground.

Camellia sighs loudly while she shakes her head.

"YAHOO!" Black*Star hollers and jumps in front of the Kishin and kills it quickly with a slash of his ninja sword. He stands tall and rests his sword on his shoulder. "Another kill for the might Black*Star!"

"Black*Star." Camellia sighs. "That was supposed to be Maka's kill. We are trying to help her learn the basics. Remember?"

"Oh Right!" He points his nose up in the air. "I knew it. I just wanted her to see a god in action."

Riiiiight. That was exactly what he wanted to do. Not. Damn show off.

"Try to take the next one." Camellia says and points toward another tree-like Kishin. "It is a level one monster. It is an easy one. You won't die even if it hits you twenty times. Take your time and try to kill it on your own this time." Camellia narrows her eyes and looks at Black*Star. Even though she has a very mean look on her eyes, she smiles sweetly toward him. "And this time, let Maka have try to kill it."

The Kishin notices me and starts to wobble toward me. I grip my sword in both of my hands. It almost feels like I will break the handle.

"When it gives you an opening, swing your sword at it." Camellia says from behind me.

The Kishin comes closer to me and I take a deep breath. My heart is racing in my chest and my palms are sweaty. This is just a game. I shouldn't be this nervous and afraid. The Kishin do look very real. I can almost smell the leaves on the Kishin's branches.

The Kishin let out a little pitiful growl and it leaps toward me. Quickly I step aside from the Kishin's way it gives a cute horrified look as it falls on the ground beside me. I swing my sword at it repeatedly before the Kishin's HP turns to zero. The Kishin turns into the blue glowing sand before it disappears entirely. Left behind by the Kishin is a small chest. My experience bar starts filling up with the experience I got from killing the Kishin. I open the chest and at the bottom is a little gold along with a little bright red healing crystal.

From behind me I hear Camellia applauding. I grab my things from the chest and put it in my inventory.

I smile wide toward Camellia and jumps on the spot in joy. "I did it."

Camellia smiles wide. "Yeah, now do it again. When you get better at fighting we can move on to harder monster and we can really starts buffing up your skills."

Camellia is right. As soon as I got confident killing Kishins, I had already levelled up to level three and received three skill points. Black*Star and Camellia offered to help me put them into my skill tree but I was more than happy to do it myself. I used my own head and calculated what the certain skills and abilities would do to my character. The first step into making my character into what I want Maka to be is by putting my skill points at Strength and Defense. Who knew I would follow the man in black's advice at first, then again, I did follow all his advices.

We ended up going to tougher areas where the Kishins were beyond my level. I was the main soldier while Black*Star was my back-up if I needed the help. Camellia was always ready to heal me repeatedly every time I got hit. By hunting Kishins this way, my level was raising sky high and I quickly turned better and better with the help of my teammates.

Playing with Camellia and Black*Star wasn't so bad.


	5. Chapter 5

**Meisters **

**Chapter 5: Never be alone**

[ONLINE]

"Get him Maka!" Camellia cheers me on as I grip my new sword.

Black*Star blocks the Kishin with his sword, leaving an opening to me to attack it. Quickly I run up to it and slash it at the side with my sword. I let go of my sword and it floats in the air. I grab a hold of the Kishin's neck and the sword sucks into my hand again and I impale my sword in the Kishin's head. The Kishin's HP bar hits zero and the Kishin turn into blue sand before he disappears.

"Yes!" Camellia yells at the top of her lungs. "Go dream team!" She runs up to us and I land carefully on the ground next to the treasure chest. "We split the money equally and if the item fits one of our skills, then the person gets it, if not, Maka gets it. She needs the most money."

"Oh man!" Black*Star groans. "But she always gets the items!"

"That is because she is the one of us with the lowest level. We both have more money than her and she needs the money to buy new armor and a new weapon. If we are going to move on to our kind of Kishins then she _will_ need all the defense she can get. You know she can quickly die because of them."

"Guys." I say in hope of trying to break them apart. "Can't we just open the chest already?" They fight like an old married couple. I bet Black*star and Tsubaki will soon go on their first date. They have been on to each other the whole time we have played Meisters.

"Yeah." Camellia says. "Let's just open it. We won't be going anywhere if we keep fighting all the time."

Black*Star nods and crosses his muscular arms over his chest. "You're right. I'm sorry I got upset like that Camellia."

Camellia smiles back at Black*Star. "I'm sorry as well."

I bet they haven't even realized it, but they are standing really close. They moved like magnets toward each other while they fought.

"I'm opening the chest now." I warn them and immediately Camellia's eyes snaps away from Black*Star's and they look inside of the chest with me. Inside is a large leather bag with gold and MP crystals. "You should take the crystal Camellia. You are the only one who can use them on us while we are in a fight." I say while I hand over the dazzling blue crystal.

We split the money equally and slowly we start to move toward Death City.

"Anyway," Camellia starts. "You all know Kim holds that party tonight at her place, right?"

Black*Star and I nod. "I'm going to steal the spotlight! That party is going to be all about ME!" He cheers loudly.

"Of course you will." Camellia giggles. "Anyway, Maka do you have a dress for the party? I'm not going to let you be alone on a Saturday evening."

Oh boy. I hoped she had totally forgotten what she said to me about the party. Now when I have Meisters to play I would be more than happy to spend the night at home and keep playing.

I have played the game for almost three days now and I haven't met the man in black yet. I'm a little sad about that but it isn't over yet. I will keep searching for him. He deserves a better thank you and I'm determined to give him one. Like he said, he deserves a thank you.

"Um, no?" I say unsure and Tsubaki drills her eyes into mine.

"No? You are going to swing by at my place then. You are going to be there in two hours and if you are one minute late, I'm going to go to your apartment and drag you to my place. You need to come out of your shell and meet people."

This is only turning worse and worse! If I'm supposed to come to Tsubaki's place… then she is most likely going to give me a makeover. Sure, I like getting myself ready and looking nice, but Tsubaki can go a little too far sometimes.

"But―"

"No buts. You are going to my place. End of story." Camellia says just as we arrive at Death City. People are all around us, barging about prices with player and chatting away about what place they are going to hunt at.

Camellia turns around and places her hands on her hips. "I'm going to log out now. I will see you in two hours." Camellia says while she gets the menu screen up in front of her. She presses the log out button and she disappears.

"I'm going to log out as well." Black*Star says while he presses the log out button. "See you at the party." Black*Star waves goofily toward me while he disappears.

I'm left alone. Well, I'm left alone without any party members. There are very many players in Death City so technically I'm not alone. In two hours I have to be at Tsubaki's place. This means I have about an hour to purchase new weapons and a new gear. I know Black*Star would be pissed if I had to do it before we go hunting. He is okay with Camellia going and buying things but he doesn't like it when I have to do it. He so has a thing for her.

Slowly I start moving toward the weapon store while I check my inventory. I can sell some stuff so I get extra gold and hopefully I will be able to afford the items I would like to get. Some might say it is interest, but I say it is respect; I want to fight with scythes. The man in black had handles his heavy scythe so expertly, that is something I would also want to do. He fights with a heavy scythe and that isn't what I want to do, I want two average scythes. Since I'm determined to use my head and put my skill points on the abilities, I have a picture in my mind about how my Maka character is supposed to be like. I want to be half mage and half warrior. I'm going to use gravity to make my scythes move with ease. If I wielded a heavy scythe that plan would be ruined.

Yes, it would be very interesting to use two scythes. I would always have my protection of scythes and since I would create my own gravity field, I could make my movements go faster and with the help of kinetic, my blows would deal heavier on the Kishins. It is the perfect character in this game.

Sadly, I cannot afford two scythes. I only have money for one and the gear I need for the next time we are going to play.

Just when I'm about to log out, I see something in the sky. Over Death City I see a person _flying_. The player flies without a care in the world without any means. I have read that people use lantern in order to use them as drive power to fly, but this person, she is flying without anything helping her. This must be because of her Gravity skill points. She has max it and now she can fly. But if she has maxed Gravity, that means she can't have a high Defense or Strength. How can she have survived this long with a broken character? Has she been in a party all this time and freeloaded on their experience? That is the only answer I'm able to come up with.

The way she flies in the sky is unbelievable. She flies with such grace and elegance. It is something with the way she flies I want to learn more about. Without even knowing it, I start following her. My legs move on their own and my eyes are glued on her. I can't stop looking at her. The sound of the other players slowly starts to disappear as I walk toward the edge of the city. Gracefully the lady starts to descend to the ground. Without even knowing it, we are all alone in an ally.

Suddenly I don't really know what I'm supposed to do. I only wanted to look at her flying but now I'm here. Why am I here?

"Silly little girl." The woman says while she walks up to me. "Haven't you learned that you aren't supposed to be alone?" Her black orbs turn darker and evil. I notice that her name is red. When I look at Camellia's name and Black*star's, they are white. This "Arachne" person's name is red. Is this some kind of error in the system? Why didn't the guide tell me anything about this?

"I-I was going to log out." I stutter. I want to back away from her. I want to turn around and run away from her. She gives off a very bad vibe and I don't want to stick around any longer. "I'm going to leave now." I take a step backwards.

"Not so fast!" Arachne roars and suddenly I can't move my body. It is like my arms and legs are being held back my some kind of rope. "You aren't going anywhere." She lickes her lips. "You look like a delicious young girl." Okay. That is so wrong on so many levels. Arachne smirks wide while she walks up to me. She grabs one of my pigtails and inhales loudly. "You smell sweet. Innocent but yet so daring." She leans closer to me and takes a quick lick on my cheek. I freeze. This woman is crazy! "Gravity. Strength. Defense. Interesting skill tree. You are ruining your character." Why didn't the guide say anything about perverted women who can taste player's skill trees?! If they might have put it like "Not recommended playing alone because there are perverted women who like to sniff player's hair and taste their skins and did I mention they can figure out your skill tree just by licking your skin?" That would have definitely motivated me to log out at once!

Arachne pulls away from my face and looks into my eyes. "Before you ruin your character," She bares her fangs at me, like spider fangs "I'm going to steal all of your stuff."

If I could, I would have screamed at the top of my lungs, but now, she is using some kind of voodoo on me that prevent me to move and talk. It only allows me to breathe and I bet she could take my breath away if she wanted to.

"That isn't nice Arachne." I hear a voice behind me and an image of the man in black appearance inside of my mind. "Going around and killing rookies like that." I hear the voice moving closer to me and then a thump. The person must have jumped from somewhere high and then landed right beside me and Arachne. "Why won't you go and pick on someone your own size, will yah?"

Arachne hisses at the person and backs away. Footsteps echoes in the ally and my savior appears. It isn't the man in black, although I should have known that since the differences of voices, but I wanted it to be him.

"Kilik." She scoffs. "Why don't you buzz off and let me do my thing?"

Kilik. So that is the name of my savior, or at least, one of them.

The man has a nice dark shade on his skin. His hair is cut at the sides and braided into one large braid on his head. He wears some kind of thin armor and on his hands he wears very heavy gloves.

"How could I leave and let you steal another rookie's thing. That wouldn't be nice of me, would it?" Slowly Kilik raises his large metal gloves. "Or would you rather fight me? We both know if you met me in a fight you would never win." Kilik smirks wide. "So how about it? Release the rookie or fight me, your choice."

She hisses at me. "You are lucky, kid."

Suddenly whatever that held me together disappears. I fall down on the ground in surprise while Arachne turns and jumps up in the air and flies away.

"You okay?" Kilik asks and turns toward me. "Arachne is a pain for newbies. She might look like a flying goddess in the air but in reality she is an evil spider with wings."

Slowly I get up on my feet and brushes off the dust from my clothes. "I'm fine. How could she have max Gravity and then have some other ability as well?"

Kilik chuckles wide. "It might appear like she has max Gravity, but no one has ever came as far to max their Gravity. In fact, what Arachne does is she uses a special Gravity Belt. It is a rare item she has stolen from some poor player. What she is, is a thief. She uses Manipulation to lure her opponent to then use Puppet skill to tie them together. She then kills them before she steals all of their things."

I nod slowly. "How can she kill me? She isn't a Kishin."

Kilik raises his eyebrow. "Nobody has told you? This is a game where Player Killers or PKers exist. They can kill you and steal all of your stuff. Of course they can't kill you inside of safe zones like towns."

"But I'm inside of Death City now. How was she supposed to kill me?" I ask quizzically.

Kilik barks a laugh. "You must have been really gone to not notice. You are outside of Death City. These parts have always been abandoned. This is where PKers like to do their dirty deeds. It is easier to lure players out of the city and kill them here."

So this part of the city is dangerous as well. The man in black told me the beginning area was dangerous as well. How dangerous is this city? It was two dangerous areas and the guide didn't even tell me about it. The guide hasn't told me a lot. Does PKers really exist?

"Oh. Then I should be heading back to the city. I'm in a little hurry." I start walking away when Kilik runs up to my side.

"Let me follow you to town. It is dangerous to walk these streets alone. Or be alone at all." Is this why people don't want to be alone? Because of PKers? I have a feeling there is something more to it. PKers can't just be the only reason not to be alone― Wait a second.

"Hey! What were you doing in this part of town?" I narrow my eyes at Kilik. "Are you a thief?"

Kilik barks a laugh and rests his large gloved hand on his stomach. "Oh no. I noticed Arachne descend from the sky. I knew she had managed to lure another poor rookie. You know, I can't let beginners start off by being robbed by her. She is very mean and very scary. I couldn't just ignore it while she stole somebody's things."

I nod slowly and blushes a little. Of course. He was the good guy. Not the bad guy. "Thank you. You know, for saving me."

She smiles wide. "You're welcome." We then reach the crowded apart of Death City again. Safety. Finally. "You know there is a way for you to thank me."

"There is?" I hope he doesn't want me to give him gold. I still need the money to buy another scythe!

He smirks and opens his menu. He skips through some pages and soon there is one window in front of me. A friend request?

"Since you don't have time now, we could team up some other time. I could show you some really cool hunting grounds and areas to stay away from. It would be cool."

I smile wide and accept his request. "I would like that."

In the distance I hear someone banging on my door. I can only guess who. Tsubaki. The time just flew away.

"Sorry, got to go." I quickly open up my menu and clicks on the log out button. I smile toward him and waves. "I will see you some other time." Everything turns orange.


	6. Chapter 6

**Meisters**

**Chapter 6: Party**

[OFFLINE]

Tsubaki was about to break down my front door if I hadn't opened it when I did. She had her foot up in the air and she almost kicked the door when I opened it. She was royally pissed at me for not coming to her place in time, so she was forced to grab all of her makeup, an extra dress along with a sleeping bag telling me "since I didn't come over to her house, she was going to sleep at my house as a punishment." I didn't even know if that would be a punishment or not. If she would be drinking at the party, it probably would be a punishment.

"Stop squirming!" Tsubaki yells. "Sit still! I need to finish off your makeup."

"Are you trying to cover my face with a ton of makeup? That is certainly what it feels like."

Tsubaki sighs loudly. "Don't you want to look pretty? We are going to a party and you could meet a potential boyfriend. Would you really want to look like shit then?" I'm sure looking like "shit" is better than wearing all of the makeup Tsubaki wants me to wear. It is ridiculous how much makeup she wants to put on. Mascara, foundation, eyeliner, eyebrow pen, more foundation, lip gloss. Seriously, how am I supposed to breathe when I'm wearing all of that makeup?

"I would rather look more natural. If we are going to be in a hot house then I don't want to sweat makeup."

Tsubaki sighs loudly while she crosses her arms. "Fine. Then this will be good for you. Only mascara and eyeliner along with lip gloss."

I get off my chair and looks into the pocket mirror Tsubaki gives me. I look really good. The eyeliner makes my eyes look abnormally green and gives them that mysterious look. My lips look delicious and very pink. I wonder what guys will think when they see this look.

"Thank you." I smile toward Tsubaki while I hand her back her mirror. "I look really good."

She smiles back, the anger that she expressed has vanished. "You're welcome." She turns around and quickly picks up my dress and throws it to me. "Put it on so we can go already. Black*Star is probably waiting for us."

I smile wide and nod. "Right." What have I given myself into?

[OFFLINE]

We arrive at Kim's party. Music leaks out of the building and people are chatting away outside of the building. Some are making out with their girlfriends or just someone they met. As Tsubaki and I walk closer to the house the smoke from their cigarettes reach my nostrils. It smells _horrible_. Seriously, how could people tongue fight when they have just smoked a cigarette? I never really got it. I would never smoke or even kiss someone who has smoked.

The door is open and Tsubaki waltz inside like she owns the place. I follow her inside not so confidently. It is something about walking into someone's home without being invited that bothers me.

"Black*Star!" Tsubaki says and quickly runs up to Black*Star who is in the living room. She wraps her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly.

Uncomfortably I follow Tsubaki and stand a little behind them.

Black*Star hugs Tsubaki back before he releases her, but his hands stays on her waist and Tsubaki's arms stays wrapped around his neck. Oh they are crushing on each other so hard.

"You took awfully long time getting here. Did anything happen?"

"Yeah, Maka had some trouble getting off her game. So I had to take everything with me to her."

Black*Star looks over Tsubaki's shoulder and sees me. "You look different. I like it."

I blush a little. "Thanks."

"It is I who did the makeup. Do you like the natural look? I thought it would fit her perfectly." Tsubaki says and withdraws her arms so one of her arms would sneak around his waist. They are both looking toward me with each other's arms wrapped around the other's waist.

Oh Tsubaki. You are such a little liar.

"Yeah. I like it. It looks good." Black*Star smiles toward Tsubaki. "You want to dance?"

"Totally!" And they both walk toward the middle of the living room that has turned into a dance floor. I watch them dance together. Tsubaki smiling wide while she jumps in her high heels and Black*Star pulls of some cool dance moves in hope of impressing Tsubaki, of course, he impresses her.

I sigh loudly. It is no use standing around here. I feel like a creep watching my friend dance. I feel out of place here. This is my second high school party and my first wasn't a good one. The whole night I was alone in the crowded house and I didn't know what to do, so I did what came to my mind, I climbed out of the balcony so I could avoid going through people to get to the entrance. Now I'm very lucky, now I would dare to leave the party through the entrance but if I do leave, Tsubaki would rage at me.

Slowly I turn around and walk inside of the kitchen. It is hot inside of the house and the music is so loud. I could use some cold water at the moment.

Inside of the kitchen people are leaning against the counter while some are sitting on the table and drinking from red cups. If I could guess, I guess it is booze. People are obviously drunk. One girl leans on a guy while she laughs drunkenly. She can barely keep her body upright.

Uncertainly I walk up to the kitchen counter and grab an unused red cup. Slowly I fill it with cold water from the tap. When I turn around I'm met with plenty of eyes, many are giving me weird looks. Some are those of annoyance and some gives me a "really" look. Getting drunk has never been on my list on what to do at a party. When I'm at parties, I would rather remember them than having a black out to then have a massive hangover.

The glares of the drunken teens drive me out of the kitchen. Now I need to find a place where I can be alone until Tsubaki is done partying. If I could decide, I would rather go home now and play more of Meisters. We can't always get what we want, can we?

Places where I can go to. I wouldn't dare to walk inside of any rooms. Then I might see the sight of horny teenagers doing some dirty deeds or some druggies doing heroin or meth. I wouldn't want to see any of them. So where to go then? The only option is going outside in hope of finding someplace quiet.

I push my way through the ocean of bodies till I reach the entrance. There are already people as I already know. In the darkness of the bushes I could hear something _very _unpleasant. The two teenagers mustn't have found a room to be in or they were too excited to get into their car.

A disgusted look plasters on my face while I start to walk around the house. It only gets worse. Alongside the walls are guys pushing up the girls against the walls while they eat each other's faces. Quickly I walk pass all of them and pretended I didn't see them. It only gets worse on the backyard. People don't even bother with hiding in bushes. A couple lies in the middle of the backyard while they suck each other's faces off while they rip at each other's clothes.

I was wrong thinking I could actually get a quiet place at the backyard. It is the paradise of horny and desperate teens!

I almost jog away backyard. I need to get away from this house. It is safe to say I won't find a quiet place around the house. I get onto a walking street and just beneath it is a beautiful lake. The water sparkles in the water and so does the stars. It is a magical view. Utterly stunning.

My heels start to kill my feet and quickly I rip them off before I take a seat in the grass. I'm still holding the cup of cold water and take a sip. The water sooth my dry throat while a gust of wind cools my heated flesh. Soon I take another sip of my water.

"Is this seat taken?"

I turn around and see a man with dark skin and black hair in braids standing behind me. "No."

"Can I join you?"

"Sure." I turn back toward the lake while he takes a seat beside me, pushing his glasses higher up onto his nose.

The male extends his hand to me. "I'm Kilik Rung by the way." Kilik. Like Kilik in Meisters? He does look like the character but as Tsubaki said, people don't use their real names in videogames.

I grab his hand and shake it. He has a warm and very firm grip. "Maka. Maka Albarn."

He raises hi eyebrow while a slowly pulls his hand back. He keeps looking into my eyes. His eyebrows are narrow and he looks to be in deep thoughts. "Say Maka, do you play a game called Meisters?"

Is he suspicious of the same thing as I am? "Yeah, I do actually."

"Does your character's name happen to be Maka?"

So he is Kilik. "And your character's name is Kilik I assume?"

He nods before he exhales loudly and smiles wide. "I didn't think I would run into you here. So you were going to Kim's party huh?"

I shake my head. "No willingly. My friend dragged me here. I'm sort of her backup buddy if something would happen with the guy she likes, but she is doing fine it seems. She hasn't called me yet so."

He nods slowly. "I see. May I ask something?"

"Sure." I don't see why not?

"Are you in high school or are you in attending the local college?"

"High school." I say while I take another sip of my water. It feels so nice every time I take a mouthful of it.

"I see, I'm attending college, it is my first year actually. I still have some friends in high school so, that's why I'm here." Kilik explains while he looks out over the lake.

"So who are your friends? How come you have fled away from them?" I finish my drink and put the cup down next to me with fully intentions on taking it back and throwing it away in the trash.

"I came here with a dude named Ox. He was trying to get it in with Kim and I guess I ended up in the same situation as you, being the backup friend if the plan backfired." Kilik leans back and rests on his elbows. "Then again, I thought this party would be better but it totally sucked. Half the guests are using the lawn as a large bed to have sex in while the others are passed out drunk. Not exactly a party I would want to go to."

I giggle. "I agree, hey Kilik, can I ask you something?"

"I have asked you questions, so shoot."

"Can you tell me a little bit more about Meisters? I don't really know, but the guide seems to leave out plenty of stuff. It never said anything about the event taking place close to Death City and it didn't say anything about the PKers."

Kilik sighs. "Some say the game maker did wrong by leaving out the PKer part, I say they spiced the game up a little. It is only a handful of people that are PKers and use it as their strategy of playing the game. You can always see a PKer coming by focusing on the person and if their name is red, it is a PKer." Kilik smiles toward me. "And about the event, events are only announced on the board in the towns. The guide never updates if not because of a new update that affects the way of playing."

I nod slowly. "Do you know when the event is going to stop? Do you know what the price is?"

"You mean the event near Death City. That's an ugly one." Kilik sits up and scratches his head. "The Kishins are very ugly ones. They are very strong and if they kill and eat you, your character is deleted. Some don't dare to meet the Kishins since they can delete your character, but many tried and they got their characters deleted by them. What I have heard, no one has beaten the Kishins."

Someone has actually beaten them. Two in fact. I just want to know his name.

"Do you know what they drop?"

Kilik shakes his head. "I don't know, but from the rumors, it is very a very powerful weapon and it says to have a special ability to it, what it has no one knows."

I nod slowly. So only the man in black knows. Shouldn't people be talking about him? About how he defeated the Kishins and got _two_ rare weapons.

This makes my determination for finding the man in black larger. I need to find him. Not just to thank him, but to ask him what it was. I think I have the right to know since I am the reason he got what he wanted.

"I need to go." I say and stand up on my feet. "It's late and I don't feel like waiting around for her. If I know her, she might be sleeping over at the guy's place instead of going to my house." I pick up my red cup and Kilik stands up as well.

"I will walk you to your car." Kilik says and we both walk back toward Kim's house. We take a detour around the house so we don't have to embarrassingly walk through their little, naked hugging party. Kilik walks me to my car and I grab my car keys.

"Are you up for playing some Meisters tomorrow?" Kilik asks while he leans against my car.

I nod while I open the car door. "I would love to. I will see you tomorrow then." I revive the engine and Kilik backs away from the car. I wave toward him before I drive away. This night wasn't so bad at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Meisters**

**Chapter 7: PKers**

[ONLINE]

Tsubaki was royally pissed. She had texted me five in the morning where I was and wanted to go home. Of course, I was already home and sleeping soundly. She practically blew up my phone before she said she was going to sleep over at Black*Star's place. I can only guess what they did the entire night; making out.

Since Tsubaki wasn't up yet, or home, I was temporary alone in Meisters. Kilik would be logging in at any moment now.

Kilik's icon turns green and I look up in the sky seeing him falling down to the ground. As skillful as the other players I had seen falling from the sky, Kilik made a front flip and landed expertly on his feet. They must be used to falling off the sky to manage to pull those things off. I can barely keep my balance when I land on the ground, let alone finding the timing and control to do a stunt like that in the air.

Kilik smirks wide toward me and nods. "Man! I thought I would be first!"

I give him a proud smirk. "Early night mixed with an early morning, the secret recipe of being the first one online you know."

"I thought I was fast. As soon as I woke up I got the Rift Gear on." Kilik shrugs his shoulders. "I will be the first next time then."

"We will just have to see." I grab Kilik's wrist. "So where are we going? What do you have in mind?"

Kilik gives me a large smirk while he pulls his wrist from my hand. "We are going to visit a special place. The monsters there are strong but with my help we should be able to kill them." Kilik says proudly. "I can kill one myself but I'm going to let you get some training in."

I raise my eyebrow. "You do realize I'm plenty levels behind you? Those monsters could kill me in one hit! Heck! I bet they could take out half of my life if they just scratched me!"

"Aw come on." Kilik says and pats my back hard. "It will be fun and your will earn plenty of experience. I bet when we have played an hour you will have gained two levels."

Two levels. That is very good. That means I could raise my Gravity and then buy another scythe. It is a lot at risk by going and fighting those types of enemies. I haven't done anything but fighting high level enemies, enemies that are far powerful and if I was alone with one of those, I would be dead. This shouldn't be something to overthink, Kilik says he can take them on by himself so I am safe with him if something happens.

"Fine! But you better make sure I won't die."

"Yes ma'am!" Kilik salutes.

We have to go pretty far to reach the area, even further than Black*Star, I and Camellia go. We walk into a new area and immediately I start mapping the area. I don't want to spend my precious gold on a new map so mapping my own will have to do for now.

"We are here." Kilik says.

The area we have reached is a desert. I can only see cactuses sprouting from the ground along and sand. Where are all the monsters? Is Kilik sure he took us to the right place+

I take a step forward and Kilik is quick to put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't. The monsters attack from the ground. You stay here. They won't attack you unless you move. Let me activate a monster."

Without any response from me, Kilik's hand slides down my shoulder and slowly he starts walking forward. His heavy boots hit the ground for every step he takes. The sun laughs at us loudly while the sun burns my skin. The tension is seriously killing me. For every step Kilik takes, the more separate we are. If this keeps on, the tension will slice me in half because this is absolutely torture.

BAM! When Kilik puts down his right foot a large centipede rushes up from the ground in front of him. Instead of legs the centipede has blades and the yellow skin looks like golden armor. How are we supposed to break through that?

"Maka!" Kilik screams and spreads his legs, gets into a fighting stance. "Get ready!"

I nods and immediately runs up to Kilik's side. I grab my scythe from my back and gets into a fighting stance as well.

The Kishin screech loudly spits out a ball of fire. I gasp loudly as the massive ball of fire rushes toward us. Kilik grabs my wrist and pulls me out of the way before he uses his glove and surprisingly, it gloves up with electricity. The static noise of his glove mixed with the constant changing energy coursing over his glove make him look powerful. _Very_ powerful. Kilik releases the energy and the electricity hits the Kishin and it screeches loudly. Left on the Kishin's armor-like skin is a wound filled with soot all around it.

"Your turn!" Kilik hollers. "Aim for the wound!"

"Right!" I jump up toward it and swing my scythe before I sink it in the Kishin's wound.

The Kishin screeches loudly while I take out my scythe from the wound. The Kishin turns around and its blades are aimed at me. I gasp loudly. There is no way I'm going to make it out in time.

"Maka!" I cover my face and squeeze my eyes shut and waits for Kishin to strike me. Instead I feel Kilik's arm being wrapped around my shoulder and he fires away another lighting charge at it. The blades stop coming toward us and Kilik puts me down on the ground. "You okay?"

I quickly nod. "Yeah, just shocked."

"Are you able to fight?"

I nod again and immediately Kilik is up and at the Kishin again. He fires another charge and it hits the head of the Kishin. The Kishin squirms while it shrieks in pain. Kilik keeps sending charges of electricity at the monster while dodging the Kishin's balls of fire and blades. The HP bar sinks down close to a zero and Kilik jumps up and punches the Kishin straight in the face.

"Take it out!" Kilik screams and I'm more than ready.

The Kishin seems to have forgotten all about me and its focus stays on Kilik.

Slowly I make the gravity around me as little as possible and I feel myself and my scythe growing lighter. I kick off from the ground and I float fast in the air with the Kishin's head as my target. I swing my scythe in my hands, around my waist and around my whole body to gain as much kinetic as possible. My scythe sinks deeply into the Kishin's head and it roars loudly before it turns into light blue dust.

I let the gravity take me down to the ground and I just lay there on the ground. This fight went on far too long. It was far too dangerous to be fighting them but the experience is good along with the gold. Surprisingly, it gave me enough to by another scythe.

"Kilik." I say. "Can we go back to the town? I think we need to regroup and come up with a different solution to this situation. We can't go after those Kishins, I can't take them!"

Unexpectedly, Kilik nods agreeing. "Yes. You are right. It didn't go as well as I hoped it would go. Let's go back."

We both start to walk back to Death City, but as soon as we reach the edge of the desert, screams fills the air.

"Help!" Kilik and I look behind us and we see a two players running for their life. "Help! PKers!" PKers are after us!" PKers are not just the only thing after them, plenty of the centipede Kishins are also after them.

Kilik extends his arm in front of me. "Run Maka!" He starts pushing me away. "If PKers are here, you won't stand a chance against them."

"But what about you?" I ask concern.

"I will be fine!" He yells in my face and gives me one last push. "Run!"

Without thinking, I started running away from the desert and away from Kilik. I wanted to stand by him and help him fight the PKers and save those players, but as he said, I would be an easy catch for them. There is no way I would be able to survive going up against PKers in that area.

I breathe heavily while I run away. Soon I come to the forest we ran through before we arrived at the desert. My legs are growing tired and I want to rest but I don't dare to. The only time I can rest is when I'm inside of Death City.

A branch breaks and my breath hitch, I wipe toward the direction of the sound and I see a PKer. I gasp loudly and I try to run faster but the person is faster than me. He pushes me to the ground and I go tumbling around before I'm lying on the ground.

"It is what I was expecting." The man says with a very horse and husky tone. "A little low level to be around the desert and the forest, aren't you?"

I breathe heavily and get up on my legs before I take out my scythe and holds in tightly. If I run now he is going to knock me down to the ground again. My only chance of surviving is by getting an opening to escape or delay him so Kilik can come to my rescue.

He raises his eyebrow while he stares at my weapon. "A scythe?" He barks a laugh. "You truly are a rookie! You are going to get yourself killed! Everybody who wields a scythe get themselves killed." Killed? Does that mean the man in black is in danger? He wields a scythe too.

"What do you mean?" I hold my scythe tightly to me. "The guide never said anything about not wielding a scythe."

The man snorts and pulls out a heavy blade. "The guide doesn't know a shit. There are more to Meisters than what the guide says. This game has plenty unwritten rules. It is the strongest players who rule, not some guide book." He smirks wide and moves closer to me. "I'm going to take that pretty scythe of yours and sell it. I'm going to take all of your things. You better change your weapon then or else―"

"Or else what?"

The man quickly turns around and up in a tree I see the man in black. He yawns loudly while he jumps down from the tree. Was he here all the time and I didn't notice him? The man in black pulls out his scythe and it isn't like the one I saw him wield inside of the event area. This scythe is black with red zigzag pattern, it almost remind me of the Kishin's fur inside of the event area. The pole is so long; it is easily almost double of the man in black's height!

The man shrieks loudly and he backs away from me. "Spare me! Take her! She wields a scythe! Look at it!"

The man in black smirks wide, showing off his razor sharp teeth and his red eyes looks sinister. "Don't you think I have already seen it?" He grips his scythe. "It is I who judge who is going to die here." The man in black's smile widens even more. He doesn't look kind as he did when I first met him. He looks evil, even more evil than Arachne did! My eyes widen when I see the man in black's name. It is Eater, all written in red. He is a PKer?! How?! If he was a PKer then why did he save me? Why didn't he kill me and steal my stuff?! Why?!

The man in black― also named Eater, he raises his scythe. "You are going to die. Say bye bye to your character." The other PKer screams in horror and Eater's scythe makes contact with the other player's sword and it breaks. Eater's scythe goes right through the man and instead of the man lying paralyzed on the ground, he turns into black dust. What did Eater do?!

My whole body is trembling. This person, Eater, I thought he was one of the good guys, I thought he was a good person, but, but he cold-bloodedly killed him. He is crazy.

My hands are shaking. I can't let down my guard, if I do, he is going to kill me and turn me into soot as well!

Eater's eyes slowly wander to me. As his eyes meet mine I feel like a hundred bricks hit me. Just by him looking at me, I feel weaker and my knees are shaking badly. I can barely stand on my own legs.

"Stay away from me." I say frightfully. "Don't you come any closer! What did you do to him?"

Eater doesn't heed my words. He lets his scythe hang limply in his hand while he slowly walks toward me. "You are that rookie I met, the one who manage to give me my scythe." He states to himself. "Look at you, you have leveled up some levels, but I see you are as naïve as back then. You don't seem to get it, do you? I told you to never be alone. PKers are everywhere. It is very stupid for such a low levelled little scythe meister to be alone in such a dangerous area." He keeps getting closer to me. "Maybe I should delete your character as I did with that guy." He nods toward the pile of black dust.

Something got over me, I don't know what it really was, but as soon as he finished his sentence I swung my scythe through him and left a glowing red wound. His HP bar didn't even drop down the slightest!

He chuckles loudly. "My, my, I did not expect that." He takes another step toward me and I immediately take three backwards. In my fear I accidentally drop my scythe. I gasp but I don't go after it in fear of him striking me. I keep backing until suddenly a tree captures my back, prevents me from going any further backwards. "Please don't hurt me." I plea but I know it is useless.

Slowly he bends down and picks up my scythe and to my surprise, he puts his own scythe on his back. Is he going to kill me with my own weapon?!

He closes the last space between us and holds out my scythe toward me. "Next time, don't walk alone. Go to your area and hunt. The Kishins here are too strong for you."

Slowly I meet his eyes and they look as soft as they did when I first met him. He smiles gently toward me while I hesitantly take my scythe from his hand. "T-Thank you."

Eater slowly starts walking away from me and I don't feel as afraid of him anymore. "Eater!" I yell and he looks over his shoulder at me, his eyes looks just as red and kind they did on that day. "Can I ask you something?"

Uncertainly he nods at me. "Sure."

"That guy said something about killing me because of me wielding a scythe? Why didn't you kill me?"

Eater chuckles a little while he turns fully toward me. "I might kill people for wielding scythes, I won't deny it." He looks into my eyes. His eyes are so red it's unbelievable. "But I changed my mind when it comes to you. It would be uncool to kill you for wielding a scythe. I'm going to make an exception today." He says and fully turns away from me and starts walking away, this time, I let him walk away.

Eater. So you aren't as good as I thought you were, but you still have some kindness inside of you. A little smile spreads on my face. I'm glad.


	8. Chapter 8

**Meisters**

**Chapter 8: Spy**

[ONLINE]

Tsubaki and Black*Star did make out at the party and they became a couple. Just as I had predicted.

"I can't believe you left without me." Camellia says while she crosses her arms over her chest. "I still have all of my things left at your apartment."

I sigh loudly while I shake my head. Camellia had been going on and on about it ever since she got home and logged into Meisters. "You can just swing by and get your stuff after school tomorrow or I could bring your bag to school."

"Then you better bring your things to school."

I had read in the guide about couples inside of the game. When you enter a relationship with someone inside of Meister, you can achieve special couple skills. Black*Star kept bragging about how took the strongest "goddess" in the game. Supporters aren't the strongest. They are actually the kind of meisters that are the weakest. All they do is heal their teammates, revive them of someone dies and give them special buffs. Tsubaki can heal, revive and buff up Defense and Strength at the moment. Nothing else. So saying she is the strongest, that is totally wrong.

Camellia started to play this game one day before me, and she is still higher level than me. She and Black*Star had time to play more Meisters than me since I had to study and tack my track courses which left me at school later than Tsubaki and Black*Star. They kept playing the game so Camellia was constantly levelling and it felt like I was trying to capture smoke in order to catch up to them. It felt nearly impossible.

"Oh!" Camellia exclaims. "I was actually going to ask you if you could play with Kilik for the night. Black*Star and I want to do a couple quest." A couple quest? That I haven't heard about before. The guide didn't say anything about being able taking couple quests.

"Huh? You can take couple quests?"

I must look really puzzled since Camellia rolls her eyes. "Yeah, haven't you read the forums? There are couple quests you can take when you are in a relationship with someone. You know special quests only for two player teams and they have to be a couple. Sorry, you can't come with us."

I sigh loudly. "I don't mind. Kilik is still online so I can play with him." Quickly I got my menu up and clicked up Kilik's name. A little chat screen appears and I swiftly type in a short email to him.

_"Hey Kilik, want to team up?"_

"Good, and have you seen the scores of the latest event?" Camellia says and I shake my head.

"Can you see the scores on it?"

Camellia giggles and shakes her head. "No, I looked at the board and I saw only one person managed to clear the task. The board said the price of killing the Kishin was a special made weapon which the player could make themselves. You know, like ordering food. The board said the only person who managed to beat the Kishin actually took down two Kishins and his name is Eater."

Eater. Yes, that is the time I first met him. He stepped in front of me so courageously. He saved me from having my character deleted and he then spared me inside of the forest. I don't know what his deal is, he is the strongest character I have ever met and he turns out to be a PKer. He has made up some kind of rules that bands people from wielding scythes, but yet, he let me off the hook. He let me wielding my scythe. I still haven't figured out why. It is a mystery and I'm determined to get my answers, but that requires me meeting him again. What if he won't let me go as easily this time? The thought sends shivers to my core. I don't want to see him so evil again. He looked utterly crazy and murderous.

"Hello?" Camellia waves her hand in front of my face. "Did you take off your Rift Gear?"

I shake my head quickly. "N-no, I was just thinking."

"Kilik has already answered you email just so you know. I got to bounce. I will see you later!" She waves goodbye before she runs off.

Again I take up Kilik's and mine chat and I see Kilik has sent a reply.

_"Sure, are you still in Death City? I'm sending an invite."_ A second later another screen pops up with the party request. I accept it and see Kilik isn't far away from location on the map. His little dot on the map moves toward mine so I guess he is looking at the map while coming toward me.

Kilik walks up to me quickly. "Man! Guess what I heard?" Kilik doesn't wait for my answer. He keeps on telling his story. "I heard from other people that Eater was in the forest while you were running away from the PKers. You were lucky to not run into him or you would be dead!" Kilik wraps his arms behind his head. "He would have killed you for being a scythe meister. He is the only one inside of this game that is allowed to wield scythes. He has killed every single person who has used scythes and taken their weapons away from them. He is the most ruthless PKer I have ever heard about!"

Is it a good idea to tell him I _did_ run into Eater? Would he even believe me? I have a feeling he would most likely not. I wield two scythes now and I got away from him without him claiming my weapon as his own. Eater seems to be quite famous in Meisters. I wonder how much Kilik do know about him.

"What has Eater done? I mean, how come you know this about him?" I ask.

Kilik's eyes widen in surprise. "You don't know? Everybody knows who Eater is. Everybody is terrified of him! I saw him once in Death City and everybody yelped and backed away! It looked like when Moses divided the red sea! Nobody messes with him without being punished!"

I slowly nod. Have they then seen his red eyes when they look so soft and kind? From what Kilik told me, it sounds like I am the first one to see that side of him. If someone had seen him that kind, how come there are so many people scared of him? Why is he always alone? There has to be someone who he can team up with? Right? As he said, it isn't a good idea to be alone in Meisters. They best way of playing is by playing with someone.

"Is he all alone? I mean, has he always played alone?"

Kilik nods. "From what I have heard, he is always alone. There isn't a single person who has ever played with him, at least no one anyone knows about. If he had been in a party with someone, I have a feeling we would know about it."

The conversation hit a dead end and we walked toward a new area. We didn't go back to the desert, instead we went to a different area where Black*Star, I and Camellia had been fighting at, the only difference was we were fighting upgraded monsters. It was hard for me to fight since all I could think about Eater. His kind red eyes along with that soft smile of his. I know he is one of the bad guys and I shouldn't feel pity toward him for being alone, but I feel respect for him. He is such a strong character; he can take care of himself which I would want too. I had to be saved three times now and he saved me twice. I feel like I owe him something. Not money or anything, but maybe a friendship. I wonder if he would want one and with a low levelled player like me. Logic told me he wouldn't want a friendship, but the memory of his eyes looking into mine told me yes.

"Maka!" Kilik screams and I'm snap out from my thoughts. "Look out!"

Before I know it the Kishin sinks his claws into me and I'm send flying backwards. I land hard on the ground and yelps.

Kilik quickly uses his magic gloves to kill the monster and runs up to me. "Are you okay?!"

I take a look at my HP bar, what do you know, I still have about five percent of my HP left. I'm lucky to be alive.

"I'm alive." I say while I sit up, rubbing my lower back. "I was just―" Something in the corner of my eye catches my attention. Quickly I wipe my head toward the side and I see a flash of black. "I think someone was watching us." I say while I point toward the direction of where I saw the person.

"Really? Why would anyone be spying on us?" Kilik says while he raises his eyebrow.

"I don't know, but let's go and check it out." I get up on my feet and starts walking toward the trees where I saw him. Kilik follows close behind me and he has his gloves ready. I hold both of my scythes tightly as we approach the area I saw the player.

"You were right." Kilik says and points toward a broken branch on the ground. "Someone was here." Kilik kneels down and runs his hand carefully over the ground. "They are quite large feet. It was definitely a man." Kilik then stands up but his eyes stay glued to the ground. "Follow me. We will be tracking him down." Kilik starts walking forward and I follow behind him closely. He leads us deeper into the forest when he slowly stops and I accidentally run into his back.

"What is it? Why did you stop?" I say while I rub my nose.

"The tracks. They disappeared." He says quizzically while he looks around for any new lead. "And I can't see any damaged environment or any other tracks. We lost him."

Why would someone spy on us? What in the world does me and Kilik have that someone has to spy on us for? Or rather, what does Kilik have to be spied on? He is a high levelled player and has great combat skills along with a stable Skill Tree. Does he have any enemies or anyone else that would want to learn more about him? I don't know, but if I got questions, I'm determined to find the answers.

"Do you know why someone would spy on us?"

Kilik shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. You know, with you wielding two scythes it could be that. Maybe someone will start making up rumors so Eater will find it. You should really go and change weapons, you know that? It is dangerous for you to be wielding a scythe, but you are making it double worse by using two."

"There is no way I'm going to change weapons." And there is no need for me to change weapons. Eater said I was an exception, but was it only for the day or will he make me get rid of them soon? "My character is built with scythes. If I change weapons now then my Skill Tree will be all messed up!"

Kilik raises hi eyebrow. "What is more important? Playing on this character and constantly be hunted and killed or play as a different character and play in peace?"

I already thought we were constantly hunted with all the PKers going after us. There is no way of playing that is peaceful. "I won't abandon Maka because of some stupid person. This is my character and no one will make me quit on her."

Kilik sighs loudly, raising his hands in surrender. "Fine. It is your character, you should be careful though. Players are talking about Eater on forums. Rumors say he got a special weapon that can actually _delete_ people's characters. I don't know for sure, but if that's true, he will delete your character."

He won't. I can't let him delete my character. "I'm not going to let that happen. He won't touch me."

Kilik sighs loudly. "Okay, let's just go back to Death City. It's late and I have a lecture in the morning."

I nod and we both start to walk back toward Death City. "Right."


	9. Chapter 9

**Meisters **

**Chapter 9: Death himself?**

[ONLINE]

Weeks went by in a flash. Kilik because a part of our "Dream Team." We were all scattered on so different levels a fight often broke out between Black*Star and Kilik on where we were supposed to go. We always ended up going to monsters that I couldn't take by myself. Every fight with a Kishin was a life or death situation. It is very embarrassing, but in many fights I ended up dying so Camellia always had to revive me. The battles were too hard and in the end, I never gained any experience. I lost more than I was gaining. The only thing that I did get was large amounts of money. It got more frustrating for each and every day that went. Kilik, Camellia and Black*Star all gained levels while I was left behind.

"Maka!" Black*Star screams. "Finish it!" Well that's generous considering Black*Star always wants to go for the final kill.

"Right!" I jump up toward the Kishin and swing my scythes at it but instead of me hitting it, the Kishin's claws sinks into my stomach and it kills me at once. A slight pain throbs in my torso while I fall to the ground.

Kilik ends up finishing the Kishin off with a quick fire ball. Camellia kneels down beside me and uses her magic to revive me. "That is like the seventeenth time you died today. Are you that off today?" Camellia says.

"Sorry." I say while I sit up slowly. "It's just… the Kishins are too fast. I don't have any time to attack them and when they attack me, they instantly kill me." I groan loudly while flipping down on the grass again. I would rather lie here on the grass for a couple of minutes.

I hadn't seen Eater since I met him inside of the forest. Random people had come up to me inside of Death City and warned me about using scythes. People had called me stupid and an attention-seeker for using scythes. I would have kicked their asses if it wasn't for their level. They were above mine.

As hard as I try to be a good teammate, I just can't do anything to provide. I'm deadweight to them. It shouldn't be this hard for us to level up but it is. Even Kilik had pointed out on how low experience we all get. I just don't get it. I should get more experience than I do, but I'm not. Why is that so?

"Maybe it is your character." Black*Star says while he has his head down in the chest filled with gold and items. "Maybe you screw up your Skill Tree."

I growl loudly and clench my fists. Now I do _not_ want to lie around the grass. I want to kick his stupid ass. "My character isn't screwed up! She is fine!" I glare holes in Black*Star's neck. I'm lucky this is only a game since I really want to kill him and butcher him into small pieces before I burn him and scatter the remaining all across the world of Meisters. But, that would acquire me to actually do any damage to him, and I know if I attacked him, he would definitely kill me. He always wants to fight.

"I'm so sick and tired of this!" I yell and stand up on my feet. "I'm going back to Death City! I'm going to log out and study!" Quickly I tap my menu and find the party options and leave it.

"Maka!" Camellia yells. "Don't be like that! Come back and play with us!" Camellia tries to persuade me to come back but I keep walking away angrily. No one follows me even though I'm easy meat for the Kishins or PKers. I don't care. All I want is to stop playing this stupid game and start studying. I have an upcoming test and I need to study. This is getting out of hand. I have played this game far too much and I need to focus on my studies again.

"Scythe meister Maka Albarn." I almost jump out of my skin when I hear someone saying my name. Hesitantly I turn toward the side and I see male with golden eyes dressed in a fancy black and white suit. That looks really expensive. "Finally you got alone from your friends. I have been waiting for you."

Wait. What the heck is he talking about? "Wait, what are you talking about?" I ask him.

"As you may already know, I have been following you around. You have seen me a couple of times before. I'm here to take you to see a special person." I focus at his character and I see his name is Death, written in red. That is a weird name but it must be very desirable since this is a game. Many people have weird names like Best Warrior Ever and Knight of Darkness.

"So it was you, why have you been spying on me?" I'm kind of surprised. Everybody in Dream Team had seen him sneaking around some of the times. We always only caught a glance of him and I was always sure he was after Kilik.

"It is simple; you will get all of your answers if you follow me. Don't worry, I won't hurt you." He holds out his hand toward me.

I narrow my eyes and look cynically at it. "What if I don't want to come with you?"

Slowly he reaches behind him and I gulp loudly. He points a gun toward me. "Then I will have to force you. It would make it much easier for both of us if you came with me willingly." He keeps his hand extended toward me while he points the gun toward me. I don't like this at all! I don't have much choice if I don't want to end up dead!

"You better keep your promise!" I say while I carefully walk toward him. Death is quick to put away his gun and I cautiously take his hand.

"Hold your breath." Death says and before I know it, we are sucked into another dimension and the air is forced out of my lungs. My limbs are being twisted at many weird angles while it feels like I'm being crushed. It stops and I collapse on the floor breathing heavily.

"Did you not warn her about it?" That voice. I know it.

"I did but she did not heed my advice." Death says.

With the little power I have, I raise my head and sees Eater in front of me. Why would he want me here? Why would he make Death spy on me and force me here against my will? My eyes widen. Is he going to kill me and delete my character?! I don't want Maka to die!

Eater sighs loudly while he walks up to me and kneels beside me. "You okay? I know it isn't a pleasant thing to warp from a place to another." Warp? So that is what he calls it. Eater offers me his hand and I really want to take it, but instead I sit up on my own. I'm tired of being dead weight to everybody. I want to regain some independent ground.

"Warp? The guide didn't say anything about an ability called warp." I say while I take deep breaths. I'm will very much dizzy after being wrapped here.

Eater chuckles while he sits on the floor beside me. "Yeah, it is a technique I and Death are developing. It allows us to use dark magic in order to get access to the cosmic tunnels. It sounds very complicated, I know."

I shake my head while I keep breathing. Lucky for me, it feels like I'm not going to throw up anymore. "No. I get it. I'm smart." And I mean it. I do get it. What they are doing is putting their Skill Points on abilities that allows them to use the cosmic tunnels. That means they have to go for dark skills and speed in order to achieve that.

Eater smiles softly toward me, the kind of smile I adore so much. "I always knew you were smart. You have to have brains for creating a character like yours on the first try. Let me guess, you used Gravity to then balance it out with Speed, Strength and Defense?"

He hit the nail on the head. He isn't playing around. How can he know my Skill Tree like that? "Yeah, you are right. How did you know that?"

Eater shrugs his shoulders. "Intuition." He turns toward Death. "Can you leave us alone for a bit?"

Death nods before he leaves the room. Is this place an apartment? It looks like one. It has a bed, night stand with a lamp on it along with plants which smells sweet. It almost reminds me off how my room looks, minus the plants that is.

"Just to get it said, I didn't ask Death to spy on you to kidnap you and take you here so I could kill you. No, it's the opposite." Eater says and this time, he offers his hand to me. "Please take a seat on somewhere more comfortable. You look you are about to pass out."

This time, I couldn't deny his hand. It is so inviting and I remembered the last time I touched his hand, it was so warm and his fingers perfectly secured my hand. This time is no different. His hand is much larger than mine. He pulls me up to my feet and carefully supports me so I can take a seat on the chair.

"Wait here. I will come back with some water." Eater says and disappears to then returns a few moments later with a glass filled with water. "Drink up. It will do you good."

I raise my eyebrow while I take it. "Will this really help me? I mean, won't it just be tasteless?"

Eater shakes his head while he takes a seat in front of me on the bed. "Yes, don't worry; I haven't put anything in the glass."

Slowly I nod and take a sip of the water. I'm definitely wrong. The water tastes just like water. It soothes my burning throat and my upset stomach. He is right; this was just what I needed. Quickly I gulp down all of the water.

"Look Maka, You are a sweet player, you are a great player." Eater says while he rests his elbows on his knees. "You have created a very powerful character."

"Really?" I say way too quickly and very surprised. "Then how come I keep dying? As soon as I fight I die and I never gain any experience."

"That is why I want to talk to you. Alone." Eater gets up from the bed and walks up to me. "What do you know about meisters? About what kinds of thieves there are."

I put my index finger on my chin while I stare up at the ceiling in thought. "I don't really know that much. The guide only introduced what kinds of weapons there were and the Abilities where I put my Skill Points on."

"So, zero?"

"Pretty much."

"Then I have a lot to tell you." Eater turns around again and takes a seat on the bed. Will he ever decide if he wants to sit down or stand up? "There are PKers who steal items and money, but there are also those kinds of players that steal experience from you." Eater rubs his palms together. "I want to talk to you about those thieves that steal experience. You have already noticed you aren't gaining the amount of experience you are supposed to gain. It isn't something wrong with you; it is someone inside of your team that is stealing experience from you."

My eyes widen. A traitor? That isn't possible. Kilik, Black*Star or Camellia wouldn't do something like that.

"It is the Kilik character. I know it. I have seen him stealing experience from other characters before. He is a gold digger. He only seems to be a fighting character because of his overpowered gloves and armor. He has spent a lot of money on buffing his gear up. If you don't believe me I can give you proof."

It is overwhelming. Kilik. An experience thief? He is a thief just like Arachne and those damned PKers.

"Why would he do something like that?" I say running my hands through my hair. "He is a nice guy."

"Unfortunately it was only a mask to get to you. Kilik targets his victims by being friendly and helping them. Then he slowly takes more and more experience from the whole team, and then when he thinks they are on to him, he leaves the party. He is a nasty character." Eater gets up from the bed again and walks over to me. He kneels in front of me and puts his hands above mine. "I know it is hard to believe, but trust me. I'm an experienced player. I know a thief when I see one."

My eyes wander up from my lap and I look into his red concern eyes. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Eater lets go off his hands and puts them on his knees. They are fisting his pants. "Because, you deserved to know the truth. You got me my weapon when we first met and I want to repay you for it."

"But you already have saved me plenty of times and you have been kind to me. You don't need to repay me. It is I who has to repay you. Without you my character would be gone, my things would have been stolen and without you I would have most likely not kept playing this game." I confess. "Without you, I wouldn't have played this game because you were my reason to keep playing at the beginning. I wanted to meet you again and repay you for everything you have done." I can't help but blush. It feels like I am confessing an undying love for Eater. It is weird. We don't know each other. I respect him highly. He is a great player and very kind too, even if he could look scary at some points.

Eater chuckles and then picks up his menu. "Then you can start repaying me with this." His menu disappears and a screen pops up in front of me. He wants _me_ to be his friend? That is very cool.

I smile wide and gladly accept his request. "You know if you still have time, would you like to team up? I could show you how you best gain experience."

I nod eagerly. "I would like that."

I have a feeling this is going to be a great friendship. It feels great being his friend. At least I know he has two friends. Me and Death.


	10. Chapter 10

**Meisters **

**Chapter 10: Meeting**

[ONLINE]

I have to say, I don't know what people are talking about when they say they're terrified of Eater. He is very kind and generous. He is an amazing fighter. He uses his heavy scythe so expertly. He looks so cool while he kills his enemies. He looks nothing like me when I fight. Instead of being light, he is heavy and steady, instead of being fast and deal many hits, he is slow and his hits are powerful. I can't help but secretly watch him while he fights.

When I had logged into the game the next day, I was going to confront Kilik but his name wasn't there on my friend list. He must have taken off before I got the chance to do anything. Black*Star and Camellia didn't know anything about it at all. They said they separated like usual before they logged out.

His hair moves perfectly as he swings his scythe. He looks utterly beautiful. How can someone look so… so perfect while fighting? Even when he makes grimaces he looks perfect. I know I must look horrible since my pigtails get in my way and I can't look good at all when I stick my tongue out while I fight. It is impossible for it to be anywhere near Eater's perfection.

Eater deals the killing blow to the Kishin and I can't help but look at him. Eater turns around toward me and smiles wide. "Number thirty-eight. How much experience do you have?"

I smile wide. "Eighty-two percent. This is going really well. How did you come up with this fighting technique?"

Eater had told me a secret. He said the key doesn't lie in how powerful the monsters are; it lies in the quantity of monsters I can kill. By going to those monsters that were on my level except a little bit harder, I got so much more experience. With me fighting my own Kishin and Eater fighting numerous Kishins we made a really good team. He was even kind enough by fixing the party settings on so I receive all the gold, items and experience. At first I wasn't that keen on it since I wanted this to benefit him as well, but he said just being in a party benefits him. I don't know really how, but I guess he was tired of fighting alone or with Death.

Eater chuckles and walks up to me. "A lot of experimenting and curiosity."

A little bling sounds and I open my menu to check my email. It is from Camellia. "It's Camellia." I say loudly while I read the message.

_"What are you doing playing without us? Where are you? Me and Black*Star will catch up with you."_

"Is it okay if two of my friends join us?" I ask looking at Eater through the screen.

"Sure. Why not." I smile and reply to Camellia our location and everything.

"They will be here soon. We still got some time to hunt alone." For some reason it sounded very intimate. Me and Eater, all alone and hunting together. Quite frankly, I like it. He looks so perfect when he moves. I haven't ever seen someone ever move like he does. In my mind, watching him hunt is very intimate just because the only other person he has hunted with is Death. I'm the first girl that has ever seen him hunt like this and I like it.

"Sounds great." Eater says and smirks wide. "First to get to ten win." He quickly turns on his heel and leaps toward a Kishin.

"Not fair!" I say and giggle loudly while I attack my own. "You are much stronger than me!" Even if I'm about to lose, it is somewhat fun. Eater is so friendly and so fun to be with.

Fighting hadn't been this fun before. Kilik, Black*Star and Camellia always took it so serious, too serious while Eater, he plays around and make up games. The time passes so quickly and my experience sky rocks. Before I know it I have reached another level and I put my Skill Points on Gravity and Strength.

"I won!" Eater exclaims. "You will have to do better than that to beat me Maka!"

"I'm going to kick your ass next time!" I giggle back.

Before I know it, Eater's eyes narrows and he gets into a fighting stance. Behind me I see Black*Star with his Katana ready.

"No!" I scream and just in the second Black*Star's sword is going to collide with Eater's scythe; I use Gravity and my speed to get there before they crash. I block Eater's and Black*Star's weapons with my scythes but it don't go as planned. My scythe which is blocking Eater's scythe doesn't hold under the pressure, my scythe breaks and nothing stands between me and Eater's scythe. Eater's red eyes are wide when his scythe hits me and surprisingly, I'm not dead. His attack didn't even take any HP from me. How is this possibly?

"You idiot!" Black*Star yells. "What are you doing jumping in front of Eater! Don't you know who he is?!"

"Shut up Black*Star!" I yell back and Eater immediately removes his scythe from within me. He offers me his hand and helps me up on my feet. "He is my friend. We are in a party. Thanks for attacking him by the way."

"Whaaaaaat?!" Black*Star yells surprised. "But he attacked you too! I _saw_ the scythe go through you! How are you even still alive?!"

I look down at my broken scythe and shrug my shoulder.

Eater steps in and puts his hand on my shoulder. "I can explain. It is impossible to kill those you are in a party with, although, since this game is a PKer friendly, you can break your party member's weapons. That's why Maka didn't get any damage from my scythe and her scythe broke."

Black*Star nods slowly while he carefully grabs my hand and pulls me away from Eater. He is definitely afraid and suspicious. "Maka, could we talk for a moment?" Before I even have a chance to say anything, Black*Star pulls me away from Eater and he gives me a quizzical look. I shrug my shoulders showing I don't know what he wants to talk about.

When we get behind a tree Black*Star releases my hand and crosses his arms. "What the hell are you doing teaming up with him? Do you even know who he is? He is fucking Eater! He kills everyone he sees!"

I shake my head and smiles. "Nope. He doesn't. He is a good guy. I have played with him and he is really nice. You should give him a chance. I swear you will like him when you get to know him."

Black*Star shakes his head furiously. "There is no way Eater could be a nice guy? Are you crazy! Maka, he deletes people's characters. He can delete yours when he gets in the mood for it! You shouldn't be around him."

I narrow my eyes and give Black*Star a hard glare. "You will get to know him because I'm going to play with him if you like it or not. You can then leave if you don't want to play with him. I'm not going to leave him and if you ever want to play with me again, you better give him an honest chance of showing who he is."

Camellia smiles wide and wraps her arm around my shoulders. "You like him."

"Yes I do. He is a very nice guy." I honestly say.

Camellia smirks wide and nods. "Sure, because that is exactly what I meant." She says with sarcasm dripping from her mouth. "We will play with you. We will give him a chance."

Black*Star's eyes widen in shock. "What?! Heck n―" Camellia stomps on his foot and Black*Star groans out loudly. "Okay. We will give him a chance." Ah, Camellia really do know how to put Black*Star into place. I love that about her.

I smile wide. "Good."

We all return back to Eater who stands leaning on a tree waiting for us. "Sorry about that." I say and points toward Camellia and Black*Star. "Eater, these are my friends, Black*Star and Camellia. Black*Star, I think you have something to say to Eater."

Black*Star's eyes widen. "Heck n―" Camellia elbows him in his ribs and he groans loudly again. Ah, how lovely it is to see Camellia has a leash on her dog. "Sorry." Black*Star says pitifully while he rubs his rib.

Eater smiles softly and shakes his head. "Don't worry about it. None of us got hurt." Eater then grabs my hand with his half gloved one. I feel the warmth of his fingers on my hand. "That reminds me, your scythe broke." Eater then opens his menu and a little later a screen pops up in front of me. He wants to trade with me?

I nod slowly, not quite understanding what he is doing. I accept the trade and Eater starts putting things into the trade squares. "Here is a scroll. This is what I got from defeating the Kishins. I only need one so you can use the other one since you were the reason I got both of them." Then Eater starts putting new gloves, boots and gear into the trade. "And take these, they will boost you up. It is better gear than you already have."

My mouth is ajar and I don't know what to say. He gives me all of these stuffs that probably cost him a lot of gold. He is too generous. Can I even take all of this from him? "Eater." I say, surprised at finding my own voice. "I-I can't take all of this. This too much. You are too kind."

Eater shakes his head. "Don't sweat it. I broke your scythe and you deserve a new one and since we are friends, friends help each other out. I want you to have all of these. Consider it a gift from me."

I can't help but smile a little. He is really nice. He can't possibly be the same person everybody keeps talking about. He is so sweet and caring and generous. It is impossible for him to be the same person everybody keeps talking about. "Thank you, but if you ever need something please don't hesitate to ask me. You know I want to help you too."

He chuckles and we both know he won't be asking me of anything. I'm way lower than his level and I wouldn't be able to help him at all. Well, maybe as bait if ever a Kishin like the first one arises. Then I would happily help him even if I would be some kind of meat to lure the Kishin out.

"You will be the first one I ask then." He says and wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Go ahead and fix that scythe of yours. I will help you with the instructions."

I blush a bright red at the closeness between us. Shakily I open up my inventory and open up the scroll Eater gave me. He starts helping me how I will get the exact scythe I want and help me with getting the scythe as strong as it can get. The scythe I creates almost reminds me of Eater's. It has a red and black blade but it isn't zigzag pattern. Mine looks more elegant with its curvy blade and golden eyelashes on my eyes. It looks beautiful.

"Do you like it?" Eater says looking a little nervous.

"Of course I do! It is perfect! Thank you! That is very thoughtful of you!" I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tightly. His arms then find my waist and hug me back.

"I'm glad, now put on those clothes of yours. I want to see how you look in them." Eater slowly releases me from the hug and let my arms drop from his neck. After opening up my menu and equip all of the gear he gave me, I look totally different. My skirt is blue and I'm wearing a long white sailor coat with a pink ribbon. My boots are brown with steel toes along with belts on it. My hands are covered by beautiful white gloves along with rings on my long fingers over the gloves. Looking at my avatar, I look really good. I look more powerful than I already am.

"You look really good." Eater says and his eyes are glued to my new outfit. "That gear should be able to boost your powers a lot so we should move on to more difficult monsters."

"WAIT!" Black*Star exclaims. I'm pretty surprised he managed to keep quiet this whole time. "Who made you the leader? I'm the leader!"

I roll my eyes. "Black*Star. He is stronger than you, he has played this game longer than you and he is smarter than you. Of course he will be calling the shots. Zip it or I won't give you a party invitation."

Black*Star growls a little in the back of his throat before he accepts the terms and I give both him and Camellia and invitation.

It will be difficult for Black*Star to adjust to the change with Eater in our group, but I'm sure him and Eater will be good friends. That is what I'm hoping for.


	11. Chapter 11

**Meisters**

**Chapter 11: A princess without her prince part 1**

[ONLINE]

Great. Black*Star and Camellia ditched me again for another couple quest. They didn't say anything until _the last minute_ before they headed out for it. So, I was left alone without a plan of what I would do. We had planned to go and hunt but that is out since I won't go alone. I can't have some PKer finding me and killing me and taking all of my things! That would be waste of wonderful gift Eater gave me.

Eater. Is he online? I check his statues and lucky me, he is. I smile wide and quickly send out an email to him. Hopefully I didn't disturb him in something important.

_"Hey Eater! Do you want to team up?"_

As I wait for a reply, I hear a lot of people talking more than usual and all of them are surrounding the board. It seems like a new event is up. The title of it is "Princess in need" and it seems to involve escorting a prince through a haunted castle to the top tower where the princess lies in a deep slumber. It also says we are supposed to figure out a way to awaken the princess with the prince's help.

The event quest sounds very interesting in my opinion. It sounds like a lot of fun and since I started to play the game months ago, I haven't gone on a single quest or event. Well, I _did_ enter an event but that was accidentally and I didn't exactly enjoy it very much. Being chased by Kishins isn't that much fun, but meeting Eater was fun, maybe not the ideal way of meeting another player, but we did meet and I wouldn't want to change it.

Eater and Black*Star have grown friends and they all get along very well. Even Eater's friend Death came and joined us from time to time. It felt really good playing alongside everyone. We all got along swimmingly and we turned to be great friends.

I get an email and it is from Eater. _"Sure. I will meet you in Death City. I will send you a party invitation."_ A second later I get a party invitation from Eater and I immediately accept. Surprisingly, I see Eater coming from the area where the thieves and criminals are holding up. He wasn't in the area, but he moves away from it. What was he doing there? I know he is a PKer and all, but he is a nice guy. I thought he only killed players when he needed to.

Images of the man begging Eater to not kill him comes to my mind. How he begged him to kill me instead but Eater ended up killing him and erasing his account. Why did he do that? I mean, he was a PKer but he did beg for him to spare him. Wasn't it enough for him to let him go?

The crowd let out small gaps and shrieks and they move aside. I already know it must be Eater coming toward me and sure enough, the people part, even throwing them away from him and I see Eater walking toward me. People start whispering about Eater going to duel me because of my twin scythes but oh they must be surprised when we meet each other with smiles instead of drawn weapons and a dual invitation.

"So," Eater says while he flashes his pointy teeth. "Where do you want to go?"

I lift my hand and points toward the board. "I feel like doing an event quest. You want to help me with that one?"

Eater's eyes wander to the board and he chuckles a little. "So, you want to do a couple event?"

"Huh?!" My eyes widen and my cheeks heat up. At the bottom of the board is clearly says, _"Couple quest."_ How embarrassing! "W-We don't need to do it then! Let's just go and―"

Eater cuts me off my opening up his menu and the next thing I know is a couple request is in front of me. "If you want to do the event then let's do it. It looks like fun." Eater says and smiles gently at me. "I don't mind temporarily being a couple. This event looks like fun and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else than you."

My cheeks turned even brighter and tomatoes would feel ashamed next to me. "O-only if you are okay with it."

"I'm cool with it."

Slowly I nod and accept the couple request. A little confetti is thrown around us and there are small fireworks. Oh man, talk about drawing attention to us! Now people will definitely talk about this, the infamous Eater gets a girlfriend.

Eater smirks and grabs my hand. "Let's go." I notice the heart besides his name and when I focus on it; my name appears inside of the heart. Now everybody will definitely know my name after this. I have a bad feeling about it but I still want to do this quest.

Eater drags me closer to the board and the people create a path for us. The players stare at Eater with fear and puzzlement. Then their eyes find me, they look at me with confusion and curiosity. They definitely wonder how I got the infamous Eater to be my online boyfriend.

Eater takes up his menu and before I know it, an orange light surrounds us. "You better hold on tight." Eater says and holds my hand tighter. I cling onto his hand tighter when the next thing I know we are falling. I let out a loud scream as we fall together. Eater laughs loudly at me while he holds my hand. The wind whips at my clothes and hair, I look over at Eater and he looks really good falling. He doesn't make any weird faces like I am and I get a better look at his face now when his bangs are out of the way. His facial features are sharp and curvy, they are so beautiful and his red eyes are sparkling with happiness. How come he always looks so damned good?

"We are reaching the ground!" Eater yells and the next thing I know, I'm in Eater's arms and he is standing on the ground. He holds me close to him and he chuckles lowly. "You have never used a teleport before, haven't you?"

I blush a bright red and I can smell the leather from his jacket and belts. Oh he smells amazingly. "N-no, I have never had to use one before." Eater slowly sets me down on the ground. In front of us is a very large and very scary-looking castle. Lighting lights up the sky and it looks like it's about to rain.

"We should go inside before it starts to rain. Rain in here is very much real and I would like to avoid it." Eater grabs my hand and we start walking toward the castle. The castle garden is filled with naked trees along with dead bushes. Up along the castle walls are dead vines and the windows are covered with white sheets. The castle looks abandoned and to think we will find a princess inside of there is unbelievable.

"Look," I say when I see a person standing in front of the castle's doors. He's dressed in blue silk and he wears a golden crown. In his hand is a sword. "That must be the prince we are supposed to escort to the princess."

Eater slowly nods and he releases my hand and grabs his scythe. "Grab your weapons and stay close to me. Kishins will start spawning from now on."

We reach the prince and he chants quietly for himself. "My princess, my princess, I'm coming my dear." He keeps chanting it over and over for himself.

"I will take the front while you take the back." Eater says while he opens the large wooden doors, they creek loudly. "Our motive is to protect the prince and let him lead the way to the princess." I have to say, hearing him taking the lead sounds very… very… I don't really know. It makes me… happy, sort of. I like following him, it makes my stomach flutter with joy and my heart start to race while my hands get a little sweaty. Hopefully sweaty hands won't affect the battles.

"Right." I reach behind my back and grab my two scythes. Eater takes the lead while I walk closely behind the prince and keeps a close eye on our back. The heavy doors close behind us after we walk inside and I can hear the Kishins groan, awakening from their slumber. "Eater."

"Focus. They are going to attack us any second now." Eater tightens his grip on his scythe and I hear heavy footsteps coming toward us. Orange pair of eyes lights up in the darkness, one pair after another. My hands tighten around my scythes and I'm more than ready to protect the prince while he slowly moves forward. Slowly I walk backwards, following the prince while I keep a watchful eye on the Kishins luring in the dark.

A loud roar makes the Kishin whimper and immediately they disappear and the shadows becomes as dark as they were again.

"What was that?"

"I'm guessing that was the boss Kishin guarding this castle. If this is going to be a cliché story about a prince saving a damsel in distress, I'm guessing the Kishin will be a dragon." Eater says while he keeps walking a little in front of the prince.

"Will we fight this Kishin at the top of the castle?"

"Definitely. I bet the Kishin is in the same chamber as the princess." Eater says and we keep following the prince. "This won't be this easy. The quest adjusts to our levels so there will be Kishins on my level and on your and in between. If you see a Kishin on my level, say it immediately and dodge it. We will switch places so you take the front and I take the back."

I nod slowly. "O-okay." I wasn't expecting to see Kishins on Eater's level. This will be harder than I thought it would be. I hoped I could be of any use but it seems like I will be dead weight to Eater because I'm here and it will make his job difficult. He won't just have to protect the prince, but me as well. I really hate being dead weight and always have to be extra baggage. Eater has had to protect me several times and I want to do something good for him. It sucks always being dead weight and I want to help him, but always the table is turned and he has to step in and save me again and again.

In split a second, I almost hadn't time to react. A Kishin out of the darkness crawled out and attacks me and just barely blocks its attack.

"Maka!" Eater yells and I hear his scythe connecting with a Kishins's blade. "Are you okay?!"

I grunt and push the heavy lizard Kishin away from me. "I'm fine!" The Kishin lizard drips saliva on the floor and leaps toward me again. I block the Kishin's attack and use my free scythe to dig it into the Kishin's head. "I can take it!" The Kishin's level is high, almost so high I can't take it, but I'm going to take it on and I'm going to win. I refuse to call for Eater's help. I'm going to show him I can take care of myself.

"You sure?" Eater grunts and I hear the sound of the Kishin shatters into blue sand. "That Kishin is strong."

"I'm fine!" I yell louder and push the Kishin away from me. "I can take it!" The lizard leaps toward me again and I step aside and the Kishin's claw digs into the ground. I jump up and my scythes start to gravitate around my waist and arm. I yell loudly and dig the scythes into the Kishin's head again. The Kishin shrieks loudly in pain and the attacks haven't dealt that much damage to it. How am I supposed to defeat it in this rate? It has still so much HP left!

The Kishin growls loudly and it sweeps its claws at my legs and I just manage to avoid it but the Kishin's claw touches my foot and I see my HP drop quickly.

"Maka!" Eater screams and I lose my footing and falls on the ground. The Kishin in front of me raises its humongous claws to then drop it at me.

"EATER!" I scream loudly and before I know it, he stands in front of me with his scythe blocking the claw.

"You take the front. Protect the prince." Eater says and pushes the Kishin away from us. Quickly he gets his menu up and before I know it I'm healed. "Go before Kishins get to him."

"Right!" I say and get up on my feet and get in front of the prince. He had to save me again. He had to recklessly jump in front of me and save me. I really hate myself for being so weak. I don't want to put him in that situation again.

Before I know it, a wall comes up behind me and immediately I turn around. "Eater!" I yell and start hitting the wall but it doesn't budge. "Eater! I'm on the other side!"

"Maka!" I hear him on the other side. "I'm going to get through this! Just you wait!" I hear him hit the wall and behind.

Behind me I hear a loud roar. "Eater!" I yell loudly. I turn around and I see a huge black dragon with piercing orange eyes. Its level is far beyond mine, it is even higher than Eater's. "Eater! The dragon is here!" I yell loudly and my body turns to stone. I'm scared and I have no idea what I'm going to do. I can't fight it! What am I going to do?!

"Run! Run Maka! I will find you! Run as quick as you possibly can!" Eater screams as loud as he can.

I don't know what took over me, but I started to run. I run toward the huge dragon with my trusty scythes at either side of me. All I need to do is get pass the dragon. I can't fail! I just can't fail now!

Suddenly the ground starts to shake and I collapse on the floor. My scythes escape my hands and they slide along the floor away from me. The ground starts falling apart and the next thing I know is I'm falling, screaming at the top of my lungs.


	12. Chapter 12

**Meisters **

**Chapter 12: A princess without her prince part 2**

[ONLINE]

Everything is dark around me. I remember falling through the floor with the dragon above me and then everything turned dark. Did I die? But then wouldn't Eater and I be teleported out of this quest area? I'm still here, so that must mean so is Eater. Is this a part of the quest? I'm not dead, so this has to be some sort of addition to the quest. Maybe.

Slowly I'm managing to open my eyes. I'm lying on the cold stone floor of the castle.

"Maka!" That's Eater. "Maka! Answer me!" I hear him scream. I need to get to him.

Quickly I get up from the ground and starts following Eater's voice. My limbs feel so sore and tired so I have to be happy to be able to jog after his voice. My scythes are nowhere to be seen so hopefully I run into them or I manage to find Eater and with a bit of luck he has a spare scythe I can use. For that to happen, I can't run into any Kishins.

"I'm here!" I scream and round a corner and there I see him. The prince character smashes through the wall and I see both him and the prince jump through the hole in the wall. "Eater!" I scream again and run up to the hole in the wall and gets through it. "I'm right here Eater!"

"Maka!" Eater screams again and he searches the area with his eyes. Surprisingly, the floor is all good. There aren't any broken holes or any damage to the floor at all. It's like the floor never collapsed and the dragon never came to this area. How is this even possible, I know this is only a game, but this is very suspicious and abnormal. "Where are you!" Eater screams again while he searches the ground for any clues. The prince ignores Eater and he keeps walking forward while he keeps chanting "My princess, my princess, I'm coming my dear."

Eater snarls loudly at the prince that keeps walking forward. It looks like he is being torn between staying here and letting the prince walk away or keep following the prince, it looks like Eater came to a conclusion and chose the latter. He curses loudly while he follows the prince. "You are an asshole." Eater mutters to the prince who doesn't say anything else than "My princess, my princess, I'm coming my dear."

"Eater!" I yell again and follow him. "I am right here." I walk up to him and put my hand on his shoulder but instead of meeting his solid shoulder, it goes right through him. "Eater?" I try again by getting in front of him and put my hands on his chest, but he only walks through me. Have I turned into some kind of ghost? He can't see or hear me! What is going on?!

"Eater…" I whisper again and I decide to follow him. If I can't get him to see me, then I might as well follow him. What else am I going to do? I have no clue. Hopefully Eater will find something that can get him to see me again.

The prince and Eater keep walking through the corridors. Surprisingly no Kishins seems that interested in attacking Eater or the prince. Did they target me from the very beginning? It seems like it. The Kishins wanted to separate me from Eater and the prince from the very beginning but why? Why would they want to do that? Is their strategy to take us one by one? First me and then Eater? Shouldn't they be attacking him right now then? Maybe they are waiting for Eater to drop his guard, but that will take a really long time. Eater's guard never drops.

"Maka!" Eater yells again. "Answer me! Where are you?!" He curses and swings his scythe at an old grandfather clock that is covered with a dusty white sheet. The grandfather clock goes flying into a wall and shatters. The cogwheels and the broken wood litter the ground. That seems to be the breaking point for Eater. "DAMN IT MAKA!" He curses loudly. "I KNOW YOU ARE HERE! ANSWER ME! I KNOW YOU ARE ALIVE!" Suddenly Kishins hisses loudly and orange pair of eyes starts to dot the darkness.

"Eater!" I scream and gets really close to him. I don't know if the Kishins can see me, but I'm not going to take the risk of them killing me. I'm not going to start this quest all over again. Eater and I are going to clear this! Somehow.

Eater narrows his eyes and there is the sinister touch in his eyes again. "What have you done to Maka?!" He hollers loudly and the Kishins come at him. Eater swings his heavy scythe aggressively at the Kishins. He slices them one after another. I have never seen Eater fight like this. He looks so angry and murderous. It looks like he is going mad. One of the Kishins roars loudly and raises its claws toward the prince and Eater goes up in a cloud of smoke before he appears in front of the prince a millisecond later.

I gasp loudly when I see Soul blocking the Kishin's attack. Was that Warp Death and Eater had been talking about? So that is how it looks like.

Another Kishin hisses at me and the Kishin mixed with a wolf and a sheep stares at me. It can see me! I'm a dead girl!

Slowly I back away from the Kishin in hope of getting away from it. It bares its teeth at me and hisses loudly. It leaps toward me and I let out a shriek. Quickly I move to the side and starts running away.

"Princess!" The prince exclaims loudly. The Kishin jumps at me and just when it is about to attack my neck, the prince's sword goes right through the Kishin's head and it turns to the blue dust.

Quickly I get up from the ground and on my feet. Eater looks very puzzled at the ground I just laid on and the blue dust that has not yet disappeared. He looks very suspicious and I cross my fingers in hope of Eater finding out I am really here. "Eater, I am here. I'm right beside you." I say and I put my hands on his shoulder and I'm met with nothing as before. "Think Eater, you saw the Kishin, you saw the prince saving me. Please, I am here. You got to realize it."

Eater still looks as puzzled as before. The prince starts moving again and Eater goes right through me.

I feel like I want to cry. I never knew I could feel like this inside of Meisters. Never in my life had I wanted to be seen as now. Not even when my parents where always gone, I never then wanted them to see me as badly as I want Eater to be able to see me. It hurts just walking beside him without him realizing I'm here.

Without my permission, tears start to trickle down my cheeks. I quickly wipe them away with the help of my glove but new ones keep coming. Damn, I hope I'm not crying in reality. Crying sucks. I have never liked crying. I wasted so many tears when I was little and never did shedding tears make me feel better of changed things. Never.

"Princess!" The prince exclaims and runs up to a large pair of doors. The double doors are heavy wooden doors with roses crafted on them along with vines and thorns.

Eater's eyes widen and he runs after the prince. "Maka! Are you there?!" He follows the prince and I'm forced to quickly wipe away my tears and run after him. Eater quickly kicks the doors open and runs inside. My eyes widen when I see the princess lying on a bed across the room and behind the princess's bed, up a few stairs and up on a podium, there is another bed which looks fitted for a king, there in that bed lies _me._ I keep looking between myself and the me lying on the bed. I must be in some kind of ghost form since the me lying on the bed is asleep, just like the princess.

"Maka!" Eater screams loudly and starts running to me.

A load roar and the dragon that appeared in front of me when the wall separated me from Eater appear in front of him. It roars loudly and Eater raises his scythe. "Fucking Kishin." He growls through clenched teeth. Eater leaps at the dragon fearlessly and swings his scythe toward the dragon. It blocks his attack and he uses his blade in order to swing over the dragon's hand and kicks him right in the head. Eater lands on the dragon's shoulder and swipes his scythe right through the dragon's neck.

The dragon growls loudly and smacks Eater off of his shoulder. Eater is send flying through the air and he lands expertly on his feet. The prince goes for the dragon's feet while Eater makes a new try and leaps toward the dragon.

The Kishin roars loudly and fire comes out from the dragon's mouth.

"Shit!" Eater exclaims and uses Warp to get away from the fire in the last second. Eater then appears on the dragon's head and drives the scythe through the dragon's eyeball. A loud shriek fills the air and then Eater uses something I have never seen before, or even heard of. He clicks on the dragon's head and in front of Eater appears a menu. He quickly clicks and I can barely believe what I'm seeing. The Kishin roars loudly and the HP drops to zero quickly. The dragon turns to blue dust and Eater lands expertly on his two feet.

I gasp loudly when I'm being pulled across the hall and everything turns black. I can no longer move my body again. I'm paralyzed. I can't be dead, nothing killed me.

Eater sighs with relief and I hear his footsteps. He is running to me and he takes two steps at a time when he runs up the stairs. I hear him reaching the bed and I feel his warm hand on my shoulder. "Maka, Maka, wake up." He shakes my shoulder gently.

As much as I try and want to open my eyes, I can't. I can't find my muscles to open my eyes. It feels almost impossible.

"Quit playing around Maka, wake up already." I feel Eater sink down next to me and he grabs my other shoulder as well and shakes me gently. "This isn't funny." I agree. Eater sounds so worried and I would more than anything open my eyes and pull him into a hug because he can finally see me. He sees me and I feel like I want to cry in joy.

Slowly Eater stops shaking me, he grows quiet and his hands stay on my shoulders. "I'm sorry Maka." He whispers and before I know it, I feel his lips on mine. My body heats up and electricity goes through my body and sends wave after wave with heat and pleasant shivers. Without me knowing it, my arms wander up his arms and wrap around his neck. I hold him close to me while I kiss him back. He keeps kissing me and I swear his lips are the most tasteful thing I have ever tasted. He tastes like spices with a fresh mint touch to it. My heart goes so fast I think it will leap out of my chest and my flesh is so hot. I can't help it, kissing Eater feels so… so… right.

Eater is the one to pull away from my lips and rests his head on my forehead. "I thought I lost you…" He whispers. "You were just… gone."

"I'm here now." I whisper back while I keep my arms around his neck while I look into his unbearable soft eyes.

Eater chuckles. "Yes you are."

It is only one thing I feel bad about the kiss, and that is I got my first kiss in a videogame. If it wasn't then it would have been absolutely perfect because I can't deny the fact I'm crushing on Eater.


End file.
